AssessmentThere were four components of the assessment process for this
test case of the Networked Student Model: (1) Ongoing performance
assessment in the form of weekly assignments to facilitate the construction and
maintenance of the personal learning environment, (2) rubric-based assessment of
the personal learning environment at the end of the project, (3) written essay,
and (4) multimedia synthesis of topic content.
Points were earned for meeting the following requirements:
Identify ten reliable resources and post to social bookmarking account. At
least three new resources should be added each week.
Subscribe and respond to at least 3 new blogs each week. Follow these blogs
and news alerts using the reader.
Subscribe to and listen to at least two podcasts (if available).
Respectfully contact and request a video conference from a subject matter
expert recognised in the field.
Maintain daily notes and highlight resources as needed in digital notebook.
Post at least a one-paragraph reflection in personal blog each day.
At the end of the project, the personal learning environment was
assessed with a rubric that encompassed each of the items listed above.
The student's ability to synthesise the research was further evaluated with a
reflective essay. Writing shapes thinking (Langer & Applebee, 1987), and the
essay requirement was one more avenue through which the students demonstrated
higher order learning. The personal blog provided an opportunity for regular
reflection during the course of the project. The essay was the culmination of
the reflections along with a thoughtful synthesis of the learning experience.
Students were instructed to articulate what was learned about the selected topic
and why others should care or be concerned. The essay provided an overview of
everything learned about the contemporary issue. It was well organised,
detailed, and long enough to serve as a resource for others who wished to learn
from the work. As part of a final exam, the students were required to access the
final projects of their classmates and reflect on what they learned from this
exposure. The purpose of this activity was to give the students an additional
opportunity to share and learn from each other.
Creativity is considered a key 21st century skill (Partnership for 21st
Century Skills, 2009). A number of emerging web applications support the
academic creative process. Students in this project used web tools to combine
text, video, audio, and photographs to teach the research topics to others. The
final multimedia project was posted or embedded on the student's personal wiki
page.
Analysis and assessment of student work was facilitated by the very
technologies in use by the students. In order to follow their progress, the
teacher simply subscribed to student social bookmarking accounts, readers, and
blogs. Clicking through daily contributions was relatively quick and efficient.
J Black on 13 Feb 09Web 2.0 Tools From Web 2.0 That Works: Marzano & Web 2.0 Jump to: navigation, search Master List of Web 2.0 Tools "Y" Under each category indicates that this tool can be used with this strategy. "Free +" Indicates that the tool is free at the basic level, but that more advanced versions are available at a cost. Category Key: SD = Identifying Similarities and Differences CL = Cooperative Learning SNT = Summarizing and Note-Taking ER = Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition HP = Homework and Practice NR = Nonlinguistic Representation OF = Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback HYP = Generating and Testing Hypotheses QCO = Questions, Cues, and Advance Organizers Tool Link Desc Cost SD CL SNT ER HP NR OF HYP QCO Notes Ajax13 [[1]] Online Graphic Editor Free Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Requires Firefox 1.5 (or higher) Browser Backpack [[2]] Online Personal Organizer Free + Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Basecamp [[3]] Online Project Collaboration Free + Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Y Blogger [[4]] Blog Hosting Website Free Y Y Y Y Y Y bubbl.us [[5]] Online Brainstorming Free Y Y Y Y del.icio.us [[6]] Online Social Bookmarks Free Y Y Y Y Diigo [[7]] Online Social Annotation Free Y Y Y Y Y Y EditGrid [[8]] Online Spreadsheets Free + Y Y Y Y Y Integrates with Facebook and iPhone EduBlogs [[9]] Blog Hosting Website Free Y Y Y Y Y Y Exploratree [[10]] Online Graphic Organizer Free Y Y Y Y Y Y Interactive, pre-made graphic organizers that can be edited online Flickr [[11]] Photo Hosting Website Free + Y Y Y Y Part of Zoho Suite of Online Apps Gliffy [[12]] Online Diagramming Software Free + Y Y Y Google Documents [[13]] Online Word Processor Free Y Y Y Y Y Y Also contains Spreadsheets & Presentations Google Earth [[14]] Dynamic Global Geographic App Free Y Y Downloads to computer Google Maps [[15]] Online Ma
