Assessing Collaborative Efforts

The assessment of participation in a collaborative learning community is best performed by having students self evaluate their work. Siemens (2010) discuss the model of offloading the assessment into a peer environment. When students are forced to take complete ownership, they are more apt to see the value in self assessment evaluation than that of an instructor. For example, in a business education course, students are required, at semester to create portfolios or assignments created throughout the semester (or quarter); among these assignments is a self evaluation. Throughout the course students receive feedback on the quality of their work. The standards set for this feedback was created by the class, therefore placing ownership once again on the students. Bringing students into this process helps lessons confusion of what is expected of them. In addition to a portfolio assessment, a structured model, summary/response/assessment model, forces students to evaluate themselves in detailed format. 1.) summary of material covered in class, 2.) personal response, (what was helpful, what was challenging, 3.) self assessment of how students felt about working in a collaborative setting.

It's best to assess where the student is currently at and work from there (KWL) and guide instruction around this method. But if a student does not want to network or collaborate in a learning community for an online course, other members of the learning community should not try to force the student but notify the instructor of the lack of participation of the member, or simply give that individual a few assigned tasks that way the instructor will see the lack of participation through the log files and lack of discussion or assignment post.

In an online setting the instructor should serve as a facilitator to merely guide students through the learning process. The instructor should incorporate various methods throughout a course such as: small focus groups or individual email discussions assessing the student’s performance throughout the course.

Overall, I think teachers can learn a great deal by using self assessment models with students. It gives you an opportunity to see inside their thinking and learn what they gained from the learning process. After all, learning is what matters most, and the best way to evaluate learning is by actually gaining the knowledge of comprehension of coursework from the students.

References:

Laureate Education, Inc. (Producer). (2010). Distance Education:
Assessment of Collaborative featuring Dr. George Siemens [DVD]. United States: Walden University.