Assessment Reflection

Quiz:

While creating the multiple choice questions; the matching questions; the short answer questions and the essay.  The quiz is located:  http://moodle.met.ubc.ca/mod/quiz/view.php?id=11961

Technical aspect:

I had looked at incorporating a Hot Potatoes quiz into my Moodle but what told, while that is fine for my site, this assignment requires the student to use the Moodle quiz section; this makes sense in terms of standardizing the rubric for both the teacher and the student .   As Brown states (1997), one of the most frequent weaknesses in assessment plans include a wide variation in standards for marking that could arise if students use whatever program they choose.

Note:  I will use Hot Potatoes in the future as I like the fact that it is not only easy to use but also, developed located (UVic).

Although I have the pdf file of Using Moodle: Teaching with the Popular Open Source Course Management System by Jason Cole & Helen Foster, I did not really refer to it all that much.  Most of my learning was done by trial and error as I like to learn via the constructivist model.   I found it quite easy to navigate and use although, I did go back and alter some initial settings after I completed the quiz (time limit, for example, to satisfy the ETEC 565A criteria).

Presence: (Anderson, 2000)

• Cognitive:  The quiz I devised allowed the students to demonstrate their knowledge of cover letters. The essay questions also provided an opportunity for them to use their own experience and display some critical thinking skills as well as create a cover letter.
• Teaching:  The quiz is a way to engage students in an interactive environment that can be monitored by the teacher. It is useful to know if students completed the questions during the time allocated and to see if they had the ability to write a proper cover letter.
• This type of “teaching presence” relates more to the organization of learning (Anderson, 2000) than to communication with the students.

Conclusion:

Although my course will be a pass/fail assessment variety, this was the perfect topic to complete the task.  A cover letter is either accepted by a prospective employer or denied and this quiz allows for project based learning for the students take a problem and apply it to a real life situation with these projects.

References:

Brown, G., Bull, J., and Pendlebury, M. (1997). Assessing student learning in higher education.  London: Routledge.

Garrison, D. R., Anderson, T., & Archer, W. (2000). Critical inquiry in a text-based environment: Computer conferencing in higher education. The Internet and Higher Education, 2(2-3), 87-105.