Wednesday, January 11, 2012

Blog 3

Participation in an online learning community should be assessed through team evaluations on the team members. Students can assess their peers in online learning (Siemens, 2008).  This can provide the professor with feedback based on what the team members experienced within the group.  Also, if a team member did not perform on assignments or did not put forth much effort, then the results of the team members’ evaluations will show the results.  I also believe that the amount of responses or participation and how the student responds to the questions are helpful in determining the student’s skill level.  Responding to questions through web cam or video also shows the professor the student conducting conversations about discussion questions and sharing with the class.
If a student does not want to participate or collaborate in a learning community, I believe that the other members of the learning community should try to contact the team member and find out if something is wrong that is causing the team member not to participate.  Next team members should continue on with the assignment, but also inform the instructor or professor about what has been going on with the team member who has not participated.   The team members can be assessed based on ability to handle conflicts and strenuous situations without the assistance of the professor.  This would show that the students possess great leadership skills. 

3 comments:

  1. I agree with your comments. However, learning communities are much like classroom. The instructor needs to utilize her or his skills to help develop a community of learners.

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  2. This is very true. The learning community is definitely like the regular classroom setting. Both require class participation, engagement of the students, assessment of the students learning, etc. These are characteristics that are needed in order to make the learning environment successful.

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  3. I agree also, I think that once the student who does not want to work or participate with the group, realizes the importance of his/her participation and see that the group needs his/her input, it would make matters better. I believe that the student would feel as though his/her input is needed and makes them even feel important or included. This at times is a big part of a groups and group participation.

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