bronwyn hegarty

The discussion on here about measuring engagement in online discussions illustrates the diversity in our approach to this. How interactions are measured depends on the purpose of the discussion and the expectations or criteria being used.I agree - simply measuring rates of participation is less than useless unless it is combined with other measures, e.g. use of literature sources, development of an argument, demonstration of critical thinking, original thought etc.

I am a strong believer in fair, reliable and valid means of assessing whether it is formative or summative. I also feel that we need to ensure our expectations are clear and unambiguous. Our students should not have to read our minds about what is required.....so I am a fan of clearly laid out criteria or frameworks to guide what is required by participation in online discussions.  I prefer that they are formative and build towards the development of summative assessments rather than actual posts being marked. The criteria are used to guide the students how to post.

With this in mind, I like the conceptual framework developed by Nandi, Chang and Balbo (2009) for measuring the quality of online discussions - this includes criteria to assess the content including level of critical thinking, and quality of interactions as well as the participation rate.

Nandi, D., Chang, S. & Balbo, S. (2009). A conceptual framework for assessing interaction quality in online discussion forums. In Same places, different spaces. Proceedings ascilite Auckland 2009.
http://www.ascilite.org.au/conferences/auckland09/procs/nandi.pdf

that was fun. Thx Patric it is very easy to use. Bron

Peter

Now I'm getting interested... evidence to show that digital badges motivate learners to get down and get with it. In some ways I agree with Barbie - surely the joy of learning is enough? But we all know that it is often the end goal that is perceived as more important. I look forward to exploring some of the success stories. Bron

could each learner create the digital badge as a photographic image representing what the experience means to him or her. could an image sharing site such as Flickr or picassa be used to store the badge collection with each image accompanied by a description of what was learned to earn the badge and what it means plus a list of comments (from peers) the evidence that they were worth something- or is this just too simplistic?

from my perspective, if the evidence to demonstrate that a badge is earned is to be deemed solid then the criteria need to align. my only hope is that the learners have been involved in setting their learning outcomes and get the chance to reflect on whether they do in fact meet the criteria - which they should ideally be involved in developing. Self-assessment as well as peer assessment would be key to the success of the worthiness of digital badges, and I dont think facilitators should have anything to do with their distribution, otherwise they are just another teacher-directed achievement-driven reward system with no street (community) credibility...that colleagues is the key to their success I believe...community cred. Bron