Sarah,
Thanks for sharing this resource. I struggle with how to go about structuring and supporting peer assessent and your article transforms this question to the level of culture. That is, how do we create a culture where learners are comfortable giving and recieving critiques of thier work to and from fellow learners. It requires an environment where sharing fosters trust and learners are comfortable being open about their experiences.
This is a lovely design goal and one that I'd like to use. Have you or others had experience designing or working with this kind of learning environment?
Vivian Neal
Posts made by Vivian Neal
Several participants have discussed the importance of building evaluation into the process of instructional design with, at least at this point, more questions than answers. Robbie, Cindy and Sarah discussed student evaluations of a course, and both Cindy and Sarah pointed out the importance of identifying exactly what we mean by evaluation and what is being evaluated. http://scope.lidc.sfu.ca/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=61&parent=294, http://scope.lidc.sfu.ca/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=61&parent=332, http://scope.lidc.sfu.ca/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=61&parent=299 For example, do you want to assess what students have learned and to what extent they have achieved the learning outcomes, or do we want to assess the student?s satisfaction with the course and the instruction they received?
Barb described a turning point in the design process when the learners? evaluations of her course spurred the instructors to make necessary revisions. http://scope.lidc.sfu.ca/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=61&parent=324.
Finally, Sarah said, ?I hope we can focus a bit on how to assess what students have learned and to what extent they have achieved the learning objectives. How do you/we as designers do that?? http://scope.lidc.sfu.ca/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=61&parent=332
Alan,
You said, "I cringe a little at the phrase 'putting their course online'". I think it's funny because I have tried many times to explain to people what I do for a living and after trying out both long and short explanations, I now have a pat answer: "I help instructors put their courses online."
Don't get me wrong. I absolutely agree with everything you've said about pedagogical effectiveness, and obfiscating the actual ID tasks. Perhaps it's like a doctor saying that they help people heal - there is a little magic involved, and also tried and true knowledge and experience.
I also like your idea of baby steps as this makes the ID process more accessible and less mysterious. Building a good relationship involves offering our expertise where and when they are most useful - moving with the instructor when and where they are ready to move.
I'm curious about others' experiences when ID's and SME's first meet - what do you say and how do your describe what instructional design can do for an instructor and a course?
You said, "I cringe a little at the phrase 'putting their course online'". I think it's funny because I have tried many times to explain to people what I do for a living and after trying out both long and short explanations, I now have a pat answer: "I help instructors put their courses online."
Don't get me wrong. I absolutely agree with everything you've said about pedagogical effectiveness, and obfiscating the actual ID tasks. Perhaps it's like a doctor saying that they help people heal - there is a little magic involved, and also tried and true knowledge and experience.
I also like your idea of baby steps as this makes the ID process more accessible and less mysterious. Building a good relationship involves offering our expertise where and when they are most useful - moving with the instructor when and where they are ready to move.
I'm curious about others' experiences when ID's and SME's first meet - what do you say and how do your describe what instructional design can do for an instructor and a course?
Building relationships within teams can be one the most challenging and elusive parts of the ID (instructional design) and course development process. Sarah and Diane described how they like to get to know the SME (subject matter expert) and try to find out where they are at philosophically, while Barb suggested a ?short conversation over coffee?.
http://scope.lidc.sfu.ca/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=61&parent=288
http://scope.lidc.sfu.ca/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=61&parent=334
http://scope.lidc.sfu.ca/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=61&parent=293
Diane also pointed out the centrality of trust and that instructional design might be a bit scary for SME?s. When a SME has been lecturing for many years, the facilitative online instructor role might seem strange. The whole instructor/student relationship changes online and this is uncomfortable at the very least.
Marsha aptly described her challenge as a SME. Subtitling her post, ?finding the dance floor?, she shared this experience: ?I found the beginning very difficult - and finally realized it was because I was looking for ?a place to stand. I knew where I would stand and how I would deliver a course in f2f environment, but online learning was entirely new to me ? I needed to find that sense of place.? http://scope.lidc.sfu.ca/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=61&parent=310 I believe that one of the ID?s roles is to help the SME find and use the new dance floor ? but if the old dance floor was a stage for the sage as Bruce describes, where is the new dance floor? How does the ID communicate this to the SME? And what if the SME prefers the old dance floor?
Finally, it takes time to build trusting relationships. Lamenting the short time frames that are all too often allocated to course development, Alan stated, ?I am not even sure that the standard vision of and Instructional Designer working around a table with an established group of "SMEs", technical specialists, graphics designers happens so much in real life? http://scope.lidc.sfu.ca/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=61&parent=321 How do we build good relationships within these limited time frames?
Please share your experiences, successes, and things that you?ve learned for next time.
Designing Generative Exchanges
A rich theme that has emerged over the past week is the design and facilitation of online discussion. Sarah and Cindy shared some of their research results and resources that helped answer Sarah?s question about how to ?attend to designing generative exchanges within the communities they construct.? http://scope.lidc.sfu.ca/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=61&parent=333 Sarah noted that, ?one of my findings was that instructors who explicitly taught learners how to collaborate online to construct meaning/understanding/knowledge were successful.? And points out that, ?Scope offers an excellent example of this kind of explicit teaching in the ?Ask good questions? information box on the left-hand side of our reply fields.? Cindy added that, ?even motivated learners need to be maintained in a good spirit through the dedication and intentional cultivation of an intellectual environment from the teachers.? http://scope.lidc.sfu.ca/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=61&parent=346.
Questions I have for all participant is?.how useful have others found the SCoPE guides at the side of the composition window - Read carefully, Write carefully, Ask good questions, Use emoticons? In your online discussions, what design and teaching strategies have you found that cultivate an intellectual environment and teach learners how to collaborate?
Finally, Bruce pointed out that, ??by adding intellectual productivity through the publishing of a paper ? collaboration will have occurred. When designing a forum into a course there needs to be a distinction between an intellectual conversation and a collaborative effort.? http://scope.lidc.sfu.ca/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=61&parent=354. I?ve been considering two ?product? ideas for this seminar using the SCoPE wiki and I?m open to suggestions. The first is that we collect best practices that have been shared throughout this seminar and the second is, near the end of the seminar, we each share the most important thing we learned. Thoughts?
A rich theme that has emerged over the past week is the design and facilitation of online discussion. Sarah and Cindy shared some of their research results and resources that helped answer Sarah?s question about how to ?attend to designing generative exchanges within the communities they construct.? http://scope.lidc.sfu.ca/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=61&parent=333 Sarah noted that, ?one of my findings was that instructors who explicitly taught learners how to collaborate online to construct meaning/understanding/knowledge were successful.? And points out that, ?Scope offers an excellent example of this kind of explicit teaching in the ?Ask good questions? information box on the left-hand side of our reply fields.? Cindy added that, ?even motivated learners need to be maintained in a good spirit through the dedication and intentional cultivation of an intellectual environment from the teachers.? http://scope.lidc.sfu.ca/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=61&parent=346.
Questions I have for all participant is?.how useful have others found the SCoPE guides at the side of the composition window - Read carefully, Write carefully, Ask good questions, Use emoticons? In your online discussions, what design and teaching strategies have you found that cultivate an intellectual environment and teach learners how to collaborate?
Finally, Bruce pointed out that, ??by adding intellectual productivity through the publishing of a paper ? collaboration will have occurred. When designing a forum into a course there needs to be a distinction between an intellectual conversation and a collaborative effort.? http://scope.lidc.sfu.ca/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=61&parent=354. I?ve been considering two ?product? ideas for this seminar using the SCoPE wiki and I?m open to suggestions. The first is that we collect best practices that have been shared throughout this seminar and the second is, near the end of the seminar, we each share the most important thing we learned. Thoughts?