I feel rubrics are wonderful tool so the student know how they are getting graded and how they can get better.
I learned the importance of rubrics in learning.
I have a newfound appreciation for assesssing with a Rubric. It certainly does help provide structure and consistency when assessing many aspects of an effective online experience.
The biggest take away for me from this module was the information provided in the Creating Rubrics section. I believe that rubrics are a necessary part of the learning environment as they create a mutual understanding between the teacher and students in regards to learning expectations. Once they are provided, explained, and agreed upon, rubrics can almost serve as a learning contract for students. I will use the information from this section to develop rubrics for online communication expectations. The categories presented in this section create a well balanced evaluation of student communication.
I found it interesting that this module mentioned "Be willing to contact students dominating" the online discussion. It makes perfect sense to contact those students not participating, but it also makes sense to contact students who are posting so much that others probably feel they don't have to post. I found this interesting and will keep this in mind in an online discussion board.
At the beginning of an online course, it is essential to present clear guidelines for participation in the class, in addition to course expectations and procedures.
Do not overwhelm students with your own successes in your biography. They may tend to consider it just B.S.
Rubrics cannot only be utilized as an assessment tool, but they will also assist students. Rubrics help students understand what exactly are the expectations of a specific project and may help them organize their work accordingly.
I learned about the importance of developing a sense of community by the kind of communication that is facilitated in the course. I also learned the difference between level 1 communication and collaboration. I can see how an instructor will need to operate with a lot of finesse to effectively engage students in collaborative activities online.
Communication, collabration and rubrics are the conncection to online teaching and learning.
Rubrics are always a good thing, for the one student who will always question every little detail of what they missed point wise.
In this module it is recommended to use a rubric to give students feedback on an assignment. I believe that sometimes a student may need a little assistance before grading an assignment. A student may not have understood the directions clearly or may have gotton confused. Therefore, before you give them a grade I beleive you could give an assessment through communicating through email. Rubrics are a good resource to use in the final grading.
The most important thing is to communicate effectively and to provide feedback in a timely manner and of course the importance of using rubrics.
Rubrics are used as a tool for assessment. Whatever activity will be assessed, a rubric should be provided to students. In addition, the instructor should maintain consistency in how the rubrics are created. For example, the instructor should maintian the same number of points for each rubric aspect as well as identify each area with consistent titles for mastery levels.
I really liked the idea of creating a communication rubric. It makes grading easier and it sets expectations for the students, so they know what they have to do.
I will definatly be implementing a communications rubric into my online classes.
Developing / establishing a good student community, maintaining that community and moving that community ahead is no small task for the online instructor. Scoring things like participation in a consistent, timely and uniform manner requires discipline and the use of rubrics to ensure the instructor's expectations are understood by the students and are fairly (and uniformly) applied to all grading the students receive individually and as a community.
Helping all learners become comfortable and feel everyone is a part of the learning community is key to student success. Also it is important to respond frequently in lesson boards to make sure on one student dominates the discussions.
As in each of the chapters, the point of the facilitator providing opportunity for the students to engage in active participation seems to become more and more of a central focus.
With guidelines and rules, and ruberics in place, the teacher should have the ability to monitor, encourage, and enhance participation.
Feedback needs to be consistant. Also, teacher must provide posts that are meaningful and have a set purpose. Teachers should not overwhelm students with multiple posts.
Communication is very important with online learning. Teachers should use a rubric to help them evaluate student communication.
