19 research outputs found
Assessment strategies for online learning: engagement and authenticity
No full textComprend des références bibliographiques et un index.For many learners, assessment conjures up visions of red pens scrawling percentages in the top right-hand corner of exams and feelings of stress, inadequacy, and failure. Although learners sometimes respond negatively to evaluation, assessments have provided educational institutions with important information about learning outcomes and the quality of education for many decades. But how accurate are these data and have they informed practice or been fully incorporated into the learning cycle? Conrad and Openo argue that the potential inherent in online learning environments to alter and improve assessment and evaluation has yet to be explored by educators and learners. In their investigation of assessment methods and learning approaches, Conrad and Openo explore assessment that engages and authentically evaluates learning. They insist that online and distance learning environments afford educators new opportunities to embrace only the most effective face-to-face assessment methods and to realize the potential of engaged learning in the digital age. In this volume, practitioners will find not only an indispensable introduction to new forms of assessment but also a number of best practices as described by experienced educators
Assessment Blues: How Authentic Assessments Saved My Teaching Soul
No full textI was either going to quit teaching or I was going to make assessment mean something to me. My interest in creating engaging and meaningful assessments did not start with students, it arose from my desire to stop the stultifying process of inviting meaningless student work (that I had assigned!). I was, after all, ultimately responsible for doing this to them and to me. Authentic assessments are the answer. Authentic assessments are ill-defined and open-ended tasks that provide opportunities for students to apply their learning on real-world problems relevant to their discipline (Conrad & Openo, 2018). Students work collaboratively and practice communication, problem solving, self-management and teamwork in mastering course content. I didn’t know about authentic assessments when I first started instructing, but that’s the direction I headed in instinctually
Report of the Massive Open Online Course on Authentic Assessment for Online Learning (AAOL)
No full textAuthentic Assessment for Online Learning (AAOL) is a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) first offered through the Commonwealth of Learning May 9 – June 3, 2022 using the mooKIT platform developed by the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. The course curriculum was initially drafted by Dr. Dianne Conrad and revised by Dr. Jason Openo in the Winter of 2021. AAOL introduced the theory and practice of authentic assessments as the heart of the learning experience, with an emphasis on how authentic assessments intersect with academic integrity and various forms of human diversity. // The final curriculum for the four-week MOOC was provided by content expert Dr. Jason Openo, co-author of Assessment Strategies in Online Learning: Engagement and Authenticity (2018). AAOL explored the concept of learner-centred design for online assessment in higher education using short videos, open access readings, interactive forum discussions, and a learning portfolio assignment designed to model the characteristics and qualities of authentic assessments. Aligned with the theory of constructivism and authentic assessment, AAOL explored the changing nature of work in a digital age and the competencies and skills needed in the contemporary workplace, by focusing on assessment strategies that engage and motivate learners in the e-learning environment, as well as those assessment approaches that promote both academic integrity and deep learning. The course provided an overview of the fundamentals of creating learner-centered digital assessment through 21st century examples using the 5-dimensional framework for authentic assessment as both a tool for diagnosing existing assessments for authenticity, and as a design template for new assessments
Book Review of Assessment Strategies for Online Learning: Engagement and Authenticity, 2018
No full textBook Review by Michael Dabrowski
Assessment strategies for online learning: Engagement and Authenticity, 2018. By Dianne Conrad and Jason Openo, Athabasca University Press 220 pages. doi:10.15215/aupress/9781771992329.0
A Different Approach to Strategic Planning Using Appreciative Inquiry
No full textThe interview describes the integration of Appreciative Inquiry (AI) into the strategic planning cycle at Medicine Hat College. Appreciative Inquiry can play a powerful role in initiating and managing change through the process of asking generative questions. AI increases the possibility of introducing successful and transformative change at all levels within an organization. The interview was conducted in December 2015 by Innovations in Practice Editor Jennifer Easter. Dans l’entretien, il s’agit de l’intégration de l’enquête appréciative (Appreciative Inquiry) en cycle de planification stratégique au Medicine Hat College.
L’enquête appréciative peut jouer un rôle vigoureux dans l’initiation et la gestion de changement par le processus de poser des questions génératrices. L’enquête appréciative augmente la possibilité d’introduire le changement réussi et significatif à tous les niveaux d’une organisation. L’entretien a été mené en décembre de 2015 par Jennifer Easter, la rédactrice d’Innovations in Practice
The International Dimension of Academic Integrity: An Integrative Literature Review
No full textOver half a million international students now study in Canada. This rapid increase in international enrollments has intensified focus on academic integrity because the stakes are high for both international students and the institutions that host them. Academic integrity violations involving international students may garner scandalous attention, and the international students who become entangled in incidents of academic misconduct face potentially devastating life consequences, including expulsion from academic studies and dishonor in family life. International students studying in Canada, particularly those whose first language is not English, face several hurdles not experienced by their Canadian counterparts. Overcoming these cultural barriers is a shared interest and a top strategic priority because academic credentials are a signal that assert students have mastered academic norms of the new culture. There remains considerable debate surrounding international students regarding their increased likelihood to commit academic integrity violations, and this integrative literature review explores the intersection of academic integrity and international students. It takes a broad and holistic approach to identify areas of conflict and knowledge gaps, with a focus on successful institutional interventions that proactively reduce the likelihood of academic misconduct. Little research details efficacious methods to reduce incidents of academic integrity violations involving international students, but taking stock of current interventions provides some guidance to institutions welcoming international students, and the faculty who teach them, so that they can both be successful in addressing academic integrity issues.
Education\u27s Response to the COVID-19 Pandemic Reveals Online Education’s Three Enduring Challenges
No full textClosed campuses, working remotely, and physical distancing have changed the way we work, teach, learn, shop, attend conferences, and interact with family and friends. But the Covid-19 pandemic has not changed what we know about creating high-end online education. Two decades of research has shown that online education often fails to fulfill its promise, and the emergency shift to remote instruction has, for many, justified their distrust and dislike of online learning. Low interactivity remains a widely recognized short-coming of current online offerings. Low interactivity results, in part, from many faculty not feeling comfortable being themselves online. The long-advocated for era of authentic assessments is needed now more than ever. Finally, greater support is needed for both underrepresented students and for faculty to move beyond basic online instruction to create a strong continuum of care between the teaching and learning environment and the student support infrastructure. For those who have been long-term champions of online education, it has never been more important to confront the three biggest challenges that continue to haunt online education – interactivity, authenticity, and support. Only by confronting these challenges squarely can instructors, educational developers, and their institutions take huge steps towards better online instruction in the midst of a pandemic and make widespread, high-quality online education permanently part of the “new normal.
Authentic Assessment for Online Learning: Course Material
No full textThis course material provides an overview of learning designs, to help learners conceptualize authentic assessments. Upon completion of this course, learners are equipped with knowledge and practical strategies to design learner-centered digital assessment focusing on academic integrity, engagement, authenticity, and deep learning in the e-learning environment
Appreciative Inquiry as a Tool for Leadership and Driving Change in Complex Organizations Such as Libraries: A Brief Literature Review and Discussion
No full textAppreciative Inquiry is unapologetic in its focus on the positive, believing communities can be strengthened through collaborative inquiry as a method to turn problems into transformative change. Through re-framing, appreciative interviews, and the building of provocative propositions, members of an organization can become reconnected to the life of the organization.Driving and managing these change processes will be leaders who are convinced there are better approaches, who are willing to learn and who truly believe in the power of the positive. Appreciative Leadership, which grows out of the appreciative tradition, is “unique among leadership theories both past and present” through its focus on “strengths-based practice,” and the “search for the best in people and organizations” as a way to create “organizational innovation and transformation” (Orr & Cleveland-Innes, 2015). This paper will show how Appreciative Inquiry and Appreciative Leadership can be used to surface organizational hopes and dreams, create community, and build the future world we want to live in, where libraries are widely understood as essential services creating strong and resilient learning communities
The Unified Teaching Self: A Practice-Based Model for Developing Part-Time Faculty as SoTL Practitioners
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