Nancy Tosh

In my reply to the last unit, I mentioned conducting a test where teachers graded the same papers using the rubric (to test reliability). I was pleased to see that come up here. I also thought that getting students to provide feedback about a rubric coming up for review was excellent! I often have students complain about rubrics and getting that feedback will make the rubrics better.

Nancy Tosh

I liked the idea of giving rubrics a test-run by grading past work. I think it should be standard to do that when those charged with developing rubrics create them. I think another good test would be to provide a few teachers with rubrics and the same papers to grade and then see how uniform the grading is. Big variations may well mean a rubric is not clear enough.

Nancy Tosh

The section on peer-reviews and student-centered assessment was interesting. I have never incorporated it into my classes, but I did take a class where it was one part of the process. In my case, the student I was supposed to assess did not turn in their assignment on time and the teacher had to assign me someone else (who had already been reviewed) at the last minute. After I finished the superfluous review, the student turned in his paper, so I ended up doing two reviews at the last minute. It was not a good experience for me. After this… >>>

I thought the section on the advantages and disadvantages of rubrics was interesting. One thing I've found with rubrics is that most lean to the generic so that there is consistency throughout a school's courses. Consistency is great; however, what often happens is that a specific assignment calls for something that is not reflected in the rubric. This can lead to grade disputes.

Nancy Tosh

The section on pitfalls was extremely helpful. In my own experience, procrastination or scheduling too much at one sitting (the second often grows out of doing the first) are a recipe for slipshod work and an invitation to plagiarize. I have often spoken with a student who plagiarized to find out that they put things off until the day the assignment was due, got stressed, panicked, and figured that turning in something (even if it was copied) was better than missing the deadline :(

Nancy Tosh

Moreso than previous courses I have taken, this one seemed dated. I cannot imagine anyone of my daughter's generation not being adept at social media sites and these other forms of online community and communication. Today, more of a problem surrounds setting up differences between social media and the classroom.

Nancy Tosh

One of the best classes I ever took was not in college -- it was at a business school for computer programming. What I liked so much about the class is that we formed a community of practice (CoP). A good friend used to talk about her "cohort" in graduate school and this likewise was a CoP she is still close with today. As a teacher of general education classes, there's not much opportunity to form these long term CoPs, but I am intrigued by the idea of trying to do that within the context of a single course.

Nancy… >>>

One of the courses I have taught is an online readiness or college readiness course and this unit reminded me a great deal of the material covered in those courses. I like the idea of an entree exam for students, so that we would know, from the beginning, what areas are problematic.

Nancy Tosh

Although I caught the irony of this course breaking many of the "rules" it put forth (long webpages of text, traditional multiple choice testing, etc.), I can see that sticking with the way the courses are all set up is important as well. I like the idea of moving away from tests -- although I have a rare skill (or luck) with standardized tests, I have true test anxiety when it comes to tests I study for (I blanked on my name once taking an algebra final). I never thought a test provided good evidence of what I had learned… >>>

I like the idea that spending more time on a course does not equal a course having more work or working harder. I also like the move away from mid terms and finals to equally weighted assignments taking place in a variety of formats throughout the course.

Nancy Tosh