Saturday, October 20, 2007

Pssst! What's the Answer to Question 3?

During the entertaining and interesting 10 min lecture with Derek Chirnside about facilitating and creating online learning communities a sideline discussion threatened to break out about the impact / effect a community can have on an individuals' achievement. I say threatened as I raised the point that I feel when the crunch comes and an assessment is to be done that only the individual can do it but (when asked) wasn't keen to discuss it audibly - preferring to be able to take my time and type my responses to try and say clearly what I wanted to say.

It went like this:

Me: I guess in a course that is assessed at the end the community doesn't matter cos they can't pass the course for you?

Sue Waters: disagree

StaffMember: good point mark do you want to speak to that?

Me: no

Sue Waters: the community is what helps you pass

Me: maybe prepare to pass but the final act is yours alone?

Carolyn McIntosh: I think I agree that the community supports and helps people get through

Sue Waters: Mark would love to debate this some time in a lot more detail

Sue Waters: maybe you could blog it

I was looking at this from my point of view in the secondary system that has a primary focus on assessment - and I believe anyone who suggests otherwise is intentionally lying / hopelessly optimistic. How do we gauge an individuals progress in an online learning community without assessments? The community may well have been there in the buildup but when the assignment is to be done I have had to do it (this blog being the beginning of my aim to succeed in this course). Surely I will be judged on the content of my blogs and will not be graded on how many people in my community post comments or the number of links to my blog from others, or from my blog to theirs (insert slightly tongue in check link to a nice post by David McQuillan who happens to also be taking this course).
All frivolity aside David makes a very interesting point regarding what he is in this course for and I think this is a portion of the developing online culture we have yet to explore (though I might of missed it...). If the bottom line of any learning course is achievement then as much help as your community is during the learning process they become immaterial (but no less valued) during "tests". Unless of course you want to tell me the answer to question 3 so I don't have to work it out myself...?
Posted by Mark Greenfield at 12:54 AM
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4 comments:

Sarah Stewart said...

Mark: an interesting post. I have been thinking along similar lines myself. At the moment I am full of enthusiasm about my blog and so on and this is fed by comments from the people who comments, who are mostly made up from this course. What will happen when this course ends? Will I still get visitors to my blog-if I don't, will my blog die? How will I continue to learn about e-learning if I haven't got the 10 minute lectures to guide me? How will the community continue/survive (if it does) without that motivation of a certificate to keep it going?

October 20, 2007 2:17 PM
leighblackall said...

hmm, I wonder. Does it depend on the type of assessment? Community input could be very valuabel for formative assessment no doubt.. people who comment may offer you a link to something that inspires you to write another post that takes you deeper and helps your blog become a better artifact for assessment. Summative assessment, I wonder. Take this course for example. Let's say there was an assessment for establishing and maintaining an online learning community, and that evidence for this was a functional online learning community with engagement from a few people etc. Then clearly you are going to need your community to help you proove this "functional online learning community". Do you think? Do I have teh wrong end of the stick?

October 22, 2007 6:03 PM
Yvonne said...

Hi Mark

Have you seen David's 'final assessment' post where he demonstratest how his blog posts and wiki contributions have met the assessment criteria for his course? And maybe his posts drew on the discussions he had with his learning community.

BTW I think the answer to your question is 42 ;)

Yvonne

October 23, 2007 3:49 PM
Sue Waters said...

Sorry to take so long to respond to your post but I did not realise that you had written it (David gave me the link). I am glad that you did because it was a topic that was worth debating in more detail.

I can totally understand what you are saying in relation to assessment in the secondary system. You are correct the individual is the person that has to pass the assessment. The point I am trying to make is when a community structure is used effectively it will enrich your learning and can make you more able to pass. Now what I am not talking about is group learning situation where one individual ends up doing most the work because that is not what it is all about but a collaborative community structure.

Probably easier if I give you an example. Earlier this year I decided to do the 31 Days to Build a Better Blog project and I joined with Michele Martin in USA who was also doing the project. As a result of my friend Frances we ended up forming a challenge and 14 people from around the World worked together through daily tasks on building a better blog. Each individual looked at the task differently and the ideas of each other lead us off into other areas. We all learned more and gained more knowledge, working as a team, than if we had worked as individuals. What made it work was that we all form a community that worked hard together to help one another.

Examples like the Better Blog Project happen on a daily basis in my life as a result of social networking by collaborating with individuals who freely make time to share with others.

Not sure if that has answered your question so suggest you ask away or challenge my ideas (that is what social networking is all about).

Sue

October 26, 2007 12:34 AM

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