Rationale: Why study misconceptions?
a) In global terms, understanding misconceptions helps steer the development of courses and identifies which areas in Science, progress is required.
b) Moving students beyond their misconceptions, enable true learning to occur in a deeper and more meaningful way.
c) Opening up the doors for communication with students allows teachers to uncover misconceptions, providing an opening into the student’s thought processes.
d) When designing assessment practices, by knowing student misconceptions, this allows for appropriate distracters to be present.
d) Focusing only on misconceptions in designing a course is only meaningful when you have a clear set of goals and concepts to be explored. It would be inappropriate to focus only on concept mastery when the student basic foundation is not understood.
Using Moodle:
Gibbs and Simpson (2005) focus on feedback as a driving force for student learning. In order for feedback to connect with the student, there has to be recourse. Students must take the feedback and act upon it, improving their learning. This is what I attempted to do through the activity series in Moodle.
Originally, my goal was to create a quiz on Misconception of Space so that I could assess students’ prior knowledge. Gibbs and Simpson (2005) suggest that when one distributes assessed assignments, learning becomes more authentic. It then became important for me to allow students to analyze, interpret, and change their misconceptions. Students had to be involved!
Students will be more likely to participate when opportunities are provided through assessment feedback, group wiki development, and a discussion forum. Particularly, the discussion forum will be a venue where the instructor can actively and directly encourage participation.
On its own, the Moodle quiz does not promote active learning, it merely acts as a tool. However, as part of my activity series, I do believe that it will engage students to move beyond what they thought they knew, into a space where deeper, more meaningful reflections occur.
Assessment Challenges in using technology to support student learning:
– The pressure to get on line or introduce students to technology seems strong in my school district. From my limited experience, I know that effective implementation of technology is time-consuming. In teachers haste to implement the new technology, careful planning may be placed on the sidelines. Administers need to work with a planning committee in order to make sound decisions.
– Clear goals need to be formed. Goals then need to be re-evaluated and updated based on new research.
– Demoralizing: When results are given back via a computer and not face-2-face it could be difficult for the learner. Since my course compliments my face-2-face class, students can discuss concerns during or after class.
– Cheating: Is the learner actually the learner in question? Identity theft? Even though there is a time limit placed on the quiz, it still gives students the opportunity to take out a textbook and look up answers if they are left unsupervised.
– Security: It is important that student results are confidential.
– Misuse: This venue may be inappropriate for some topics. In grade 8 Mathematics where modeling is involved, it may be important to watch students manipulate the models. Also, laboratory and other hands one activities should be used where appropriate.
– Qualitative versus quantitative feedback: It is important that the assessment allows not only for quantitative feedback, but qualitative where teachers encourage and direct student studying.
Assessment Opportunities in using technology to support student learning:
– Communications: Students will learn to communicate with peers and adults more effectively through venues such as e-mail, blogs, wikis, streaming media etc. Assessment can be quickly communicated through these venues. Assessments can be programmed to give instant feedback.
– Analyze, evaluate, interpret: Student will be faced with a huge amount of information. They must be taught to manage and interpret this information effectively to help support their learning.
– Delivery of assessment anywhere around the world.
– Time: After the initial set-up of questions in Moodle, it becomes less onerous on the teacher which theoretically results in a less tired more productive educator. However, that being said, a test bank for different subject areas would be greatly appreciated!
– Ease of Read: Varying hand-writing legibility now negligible.
References:
Gibbs, G. and Simpson, C. (2005). “Conditions under which assessment supports students’ learning.” Learning and Teaching in Higher Education Accessed online 11 March 2009 http://www.open.ac.uk/fast/pdfs/Gibbs%20and%20Simpson%202004-05.pdf
Tunstall, P., & Gipps, C. (1996). Teacher feedback to young children in formative assessment: A typology. British Educational Research Journal, 22 (4).