Three Issues for Effective Development of Curriculum & Assessment
Oct 18th
At the 2011 Texas Community College Instructional Leaders annual conference in Fort Worth black handbags, October 5-6, I had the opportunity to present and discuss three issues I think are important to the effective development of curriculum and assessment. The three issues are those which I have identified over the past year as I’ve worked more in depth with my local institution’s curriculum and assessment initiatives. The highlights of the discussion and presentation: More >
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Loading ...What @GoogleBooks’ NGRAM viewer could be . . .
Oct 15th
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A few weeks back, the @GoogleBooks team released a lab product related to the Books Project: the NGram Viewer. According to the NGram site,
When you enter phrases into the Google Books Ngram Viewer, it displays a graph showing how those phrases have occurred in a corpus of books (e.g., “British English”, “English Fiction”, “French”) over the selected years.
In short? Put words or phrases into the search box, separated by commas, select a time range, and the NGram viewer displays the frequency at which each appears in the corpus of text contained in the Google Books database. A few quick searches, with predictable results, that I did when I first experimented with the tool included: (a) groovy, (b) laptop, and (c) hillbilly.
My question, “Where does @GoogleBooks david jones handbags plan for this project to go in the future? And, do they realize this could be a killer app for qualitative research?” Imagine two things.
First, rather than only laying the tool over the top of the Google Books database, enable it’s use with any database; in particular, I’m thinking in terms of a research database that contains the texts and transcripts of interviews or other qualitative research data.
Second, add algorithms that flip the search function around; rather than user input dictating the results, develop algorithms that identify the most used words *and/or* phrases. If you’re familiar with Wordles, think something similar to what Wordle.net does but with the added feature of identifying macys handbags phrases and not just individual words.
The results could be an invaluable starting point for qualitative researchers with large quantities of data. NGram used in that manner would identify for researchers the most frequently used words or phrases which takes a significant step toward identifying recurring themes across artifacts whether it be interview transcripts, texts, or black handbags documents etc.
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Technology makes “Tests” obsolete, or should…
Aug 11th
Technological progress makes many things obsolete: horse drawn carriages as a means of regular transportation, broadcast television or printed newspapers as a primary or sole source of news and information, tests as reliable and valid forms of assessment . . .
Wait? What?
Yep. Tests are an anachronism of an assessment era that is or should be fading into the past. They no longer effectively serve the purpose they were intended to serve. Why? More >
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Learning Outcomes ARE NOT Learning Objectives
Aug 8th
The simple fact that Learning Outcomes are NOT the same as Learning Objectives is a key principle to “Developing Effective Learning Outcomes & Objectives.” As noted in that presentation outline,
The differences lie in the level of specificity each provides and the relationship of each to assessment methods and instructional activities. Failure to understand and accommodate the differences can restrict academic freedom of faculty and complicate institutional efforts to manage curriculum and assessment.
Using the course I teach – COSC 1401 Introduction to Computers – I want to briefly illustrate the difference and the relationship between a learning outcome and a learning objective. More >
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Leveraging Quality Matters Certified Courses
Aug 6th
Short version: An institution that facilitates and supports Quality Matters (QM) centered reviews of online courses could leverage those courses by licensing a QM certified course from the faculty developer on a semester-to-semester basis and distribute that QM certified course to any faculty – including or perhaps especially adjuncts – teaching the course. For me, that would be a win-win-win solution for the institution, the faculty developer and all other faculty teaching the same course.
Long version and a few issues are described below. After I explain all of this, please comment and tell me what sort of things I don’t know about QM or licensing issues etc that preclude an institution from doing this ;-) More >
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Assessing Online Discussions
Aug 4th
I recently re/developed the rubric I use to assess learner performance in the online discussion for my “Introduction to Computers” course; I wanted a more generic approach suitable for many of the discussions in the course – particularly with the course going through a Quality Matters review. I developed a holistic rubric with two primary criteria supported with a number of descriptors at each level of proficiency. More >
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Proving a Learner’s Plagiarism
Aug 3rd
A two-week old post on the Texas Community College Teachers Association blog caught my attention this morning: Charge of Plagiarism Upheld in Court. My initial reaction was that I do not understand how it’s “a good thing” that accusations of learner plagiarism not be supported by identification of a plagiarized document. Reading the court opinion, however, adds critical information not mentioned by the TCCTA blog; considering the additional information, the issue is a great deal more complex. More >
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Problems with Bloom’s Taxonomy?
Jul 31st
Last week or so, I came across an older article (December, 2002) from International Society for Performance Improvement that challenged the utility of Bloom’s Taxonomy on several levels. In short, Dr. Brenda Sugrue argues that Bloom’s Taxonomy is not valid, reliable or practical. Dr. Sugrue offers two alternatives which both suggest an emphasis on the application and use of knowledge. I believe there’s a great deal of truth in Dr. Sugrue’s argument, and I have a few additional thoughts. More >
(No Ratings Yet) Loading ...Developing Effective Learning Outcomes & Objectives
(If you’re landing on the individual post page directly, this is an abstract for a conference/professional development presentation. See the speaking page for more details.)
First things first : A learning outcome and a learning objective are two distinct concepts. The delineation of the two concepts is critical to effective design of learning and assessment for a course, and subsequently, the management of assessment practices.
Assessment of learner outcomes and performance has become increasingly important in a political and accreditation environment focused on evidence, data and accountability. While institutions work to establish procedures to ensure learner assessment results are documented, reported and used to improve instruction, the success of those improvements is dependent upon or assumes the identification of quality learning outcomes, learning objectives, and learning activities. Effective learning experiences begin and end with assessment derived from defined outcomes and objectives. The focus question then is, “How do we develop effective learning outcomes and objectives?” More >
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