Notes from TechEd 2008: iRubric Published 2008-04-16 under assessment, conferences, project+based+learning

"iRubric - Click, Click, Done!" presented by Ramesh Sabetiashraf of Santa Ana College (and rCampus)

iRubric is a free online tool for creating grading rubrics. This powerful tool is very flexible and has a fairly easy to learn interface. It also has an tool for creating a class and roster. Then you can assess and record student work. Students can login and see the results of the assessment. You can even allow them to resubmit their work based on your comments and then you can re-grade the assignment. Currently, each re-grading overwrites the previous grade, but in the future, the application will keep track of all past versions (grades) of an assignment.

Other features include the ability to export grades and produce aggregate reports. But the feature that makes us rethink what we do is collaborative assessment. In this scenario, you can create a rubric and then have your students grade work that you have either created or acquired. This work could be a poem written by Poe, a lab writeup done by a past student (name removed of course), or a web-app that teaches a specific US History topic. By having students assess (using a rubric), they really get to know the concepts.

This really is a great application and it is FREE!

Tech Tags: teched2008 rubric assessment iRubric rCampus

Notes from TechEd 2008: ePortfolios Published 4/16/2008 09:34:00 AM under assessment, conferences

Live Blogging from "Web 2.0 Tools for Classroom-Based Assessment and Interactive Student ePortfolios" presented by Dr. Helen Barrett

The goal is to provide a richer picture of students' learning. ePortfolios offer an solution.

Two levels of ePortfolio:

1. Working Portfolio (portfolio as process) - evolving over time
2. Presentation Portfolio (portfolio as product) - snapshot of work at a specific time

Multiple purposes of ePortfolios: these are not mutually exclusive

1. Learning/Process/Planning
2. Marketing/Showcase
3. Assessment/Accountability

Looking at ePortfolio for ASSESSMENT

What we know...
Summative (assessment OF learning)
Formative (assessment FOR learning)
Assessment for Learning diagram

So the question: How can we make ePortfolio development (use) a natural process integrate into everyday life? Lifelong and Life Wide learning

It needs to easy to use but sophisticated enough to allow individual customization so students can see their ePortfolios as an extension of themselves (see mySpace, Facebook). The best ePortfolio toolset is a "mashup" where students store artifacts in a variety of places (e.g. blogs, wiki, bookmarks, images, podcast) and link to each from a central location (URL). The trick is to create a wrapping application that will facilitate grouping, searching, and assessing ePortfolios.

What happens when a learner leaves or graduates? Their ePortfolio should go with them. If the tools are open, the learner has control of their artifacts and they take their artifacts (ePortfolio) with them.

Summary: ePortfolios are powerful concept and can be used to address a variety of goals and implemented using a variety of tools. Higher education is leading the path in use of ePortfolios which may affect what ePortfolios will look like in the K12 space. There are issues specific to each education level and even to individual schools. The key is to stay with flexible solutions.

Tech Tags: teched2008 eportfolio assessment Helen+Barrett

Where's the Value in Hands-On Workshops? Published 4/16/2008 05:53:00 AM under conferences

Is there anything worse than sitting in front of a computer totally lost, not sure which button to push, frustrated? I guess it would be sitting in front of a computer in a lab waiting for that totally lost, not sure which button to push, frustrated colleague to catch up so you can progress.

I am attending the TechEd 2008 conference in Ontario, CA and have been excited at the session offerings. But in the hands-on one-hour sessions, I really question where's the value? In the short time allotted, too much time is wasted explaining the technical details and assuring that all attendees time to catch up.

I am in the process of constructing (or really re-constructing) a full-day workshop for administrators. The main question is how do I assure that quality time is spent going over concepts, demonstrating technology used to implement concepts, and giving participants time to reflect and discuss these concepts? For me, the important issues are the concepts but I realize that for many, it is important to spend time on the HOW not just the WHAT/WHY.

The idea that I am playing with is to construct video demos and walk-throughs that focus on the HOW, on how the technology works. These videos will allow participants to work on the HOW in their own time freeing the workshop hours for reflection and discussion. Will this work? What do you expect from a workshop?

Tech Tags: hands-on workshops training conferences teched2008

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Update

I had the opportunity to attend a wonderful hands-on lab today on Adobe Illustrator CS3. What made this session so fun? First, the goal of the class was simply to gain some confidence with Illustrator. There was no discussion of how Illustrator can be used in the curriculum. The word pedagogy was never event used.

Second, the instructor exuded confidence which was contagious. She was reassuring and gave us all the confidence to produce our first Illustrator piece of art work. She began by showing us an example of what the final piece might look like. Even with my (albeit small) experience with graphic design tools, I was intimidated. But she then explained that everything was done using the shape tools. And so she began... breaking the project into its parts, identifying the next component, and introducing only one or two new tools at a time.

Finally, the activity was both structured and open-ended. The instructor gave us detailed instructions as she showed us a demo. But we were asked to be creative with how we used the tool being demo'ed. She opened the door for the creativity, knowing just how appealing it would be for us all.

This hands-on session has given me hope. While it has been the only hands-on component of a session that I have really enjoyed (both here at TechEd 2008 and at numerous other conferences), it has renewed a belief that it is possible to have a successful workshop that blends time for group discussion, brainstorming, and reflection with time for participant to gain some hands-on experience using the technology.

What Your Profile Says About You Published 2008-04-01 under civics, culture

What do you include in your online profiles? In a recent study, teens are happier with the way they look online than their real looks. Is this because they fabricate their online identities? Suggested in the recent Digital Natives post, "Profile of an Avatar: Teens and Online Identities", online profiles are not necessarily false but rather "constructed". We put in the things with which we want to be associated.

I list my occupation as "Trainer and Learning Modules Developer" in my Blogger profile. This is how I want to be identified. It is not false. I do train and I do create learning modules. But that is not all that I do; it does not give the full picture. I am not trying to be disingenuous, only that these activities are more relevant to my writings than my activities as website producer and administrative software designer.

Because your online profile is self-constructed snapshot of you, should we discount it as a true reflection of you? I would argue no. Who you want to be is as important as who you actually are. Shame on me if I rely solely on your online identity to hire you. But if I read that you are also a "Learning Modules Developer", I know we have an interest in common - regardless of how good or experienced a developer you really are.

Similarly, getting to know your students' online identities will offer insight into how they want to be seen. At a minimum, it will give you something to talk about with your students. "Hey Monica, I would have never thought of you as a dragon. Why did you select that as your avatar?"

In some cases, it will be the things missing from the profile that are more interesting than what is actually there. If you have a student who does really well in your writing class but there is no clue that this student is a writer from the online profile, I would want to know why. For many students, they don't see their success in the classroom as part of their identity other than perhaps in generalities like "I am good at science" or "I suck at math". Perhaps it will never make it to their online identities, but helping a student realize that he is a writer may help shape his future (on and offline) identity.

Tech Tags: identity profile digital+identity

How Bad is Your Accent? Published 2008-03-28 under culture, projects

"PDF's are better than web pages..." exclaimed Marge (name changed to protect the innocent).

I was showing Marge how to use Del.icio.us to compile a list of web resources for a project on which she was working. The idea was to be able to direct people involved in the project to these resources and Del.icio.us provided a central location (single URL).

"So, why are PDF's better than standard web pages?" was my reply.

"They're better for printing out... aren't they?"

Marge's project was about looking at the differences between what Prensky termed "Digital Natives and Digital Immigrants". I had to smile. While she was embracing the idea of using technology to compile the list of resources, her "accent" showed. In the past, Marge would print each article, make multiple copies and compile them in binders for others to use. Prensky calls this her digital immigrant accent.

There are hundreds of examples of the digital immigrant accent. They include printing out your email (or having your secretary print it out for you – an even “thicker” accent); needing to print out a document written on the computer in order to edit it (rather than just editing on the screen); and bringing people physically into your office to see an interesting web site (rather than just sending them the URL). I’m sure you can think of one or two examples of your own without much effort. My own favorite example is the “Did you get my email?” phone call. Those of us who are Digital Immigrants can, and should, laugh at ourselves and our “accent.” Prensky, 2001

Within Marge's project, I noticed that the gap in adoption, comfort level, and understanding of the digital world was tagged as a generation gap with the older you are, the more likely you will respond to issues from the digital world with ignorance. Is age really the problem? Superficially, "digital natives" are those born in to this wired world. Thus, someone like me, born in the 60's, could not be a "digital native" while someone like nephew, born in 96, is a native. But who is more connected? Who lives more in the digital world?

My nephew loves sports and with the exception of the occasional sports video game, he would rather be out playing a sport or watching one on TV. He is not texting his friends, updating a facebook profile, or surfing the web on an iPhone. Ok, so I am not doing those things either. But I do live more in the digital world. Whether it is communication (email, blogging, twitter), information (blogs, rss, search), or work (coding, multimedia, remoting), I operate in a world dominated by digital technology.

I am not saying that I am a native nor as an immigrant that I do not have an accent. But to attribute a gap in one's adoption of the digital world to age is too simplistic and as we create programs that address this gap, we will do well not to make assumptions based on one's age.

BTW - I don't print my email, but my accents shows when it comes to IM - I just don't get its appeal.

Tech Tags: digital+native digital+immigrant prensky YouthAndTechnology