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Table of Contents
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Exploring Personal Communication Assessments
What Are They?
This type of assessment can include discussion board questions, oral examinations (via live synchronous tools), dialogue journals, learning logs, etc.
Why Use Them?
One benefit of using personal communication assessments is that they can help you provide opportunities for the three types of interaction that we mentioned in Module 01:
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As assessment tools, personal communication assessments can be effective for measuring student learning at all levels of cognitive skills from Bloom’s taxonomy - remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating, depending on how you set up the assessments.
Best Ways to Use Them?
Generally, personal communication assessments work best as formative measures to see how students are learning and provide feedback as they go. However, you can use personal communication assessments for summative assessments; for instance, you might require students to post their final projects to a discussion forum and critique each other’s work as part of their grade.
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Discussion Forums
Web Conferencing
Blogs/Journals
Example of Personal Communication Assessments
Here is a blog example that an instructor can use as a formative assessment to get students thinking about the goals for the course:
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Why you are interested in this topic/issue/question
Any questions you’d like to explore
How you would approach the exploration of this topic/issue/question
How the instructor, this class, and your classmates can help you in the discovering process
Designing Personal Communication Assessments
Performance assessments can include, but are not limited to, the following types of assessments:
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Below, we present information on each of these three areas to help you determine whether they might work well for what you are trying to assess.
Discussion Forums
Although online discussions can vary in style, type, and frequency in use, according to Smith (2002), all effective online discussions share the following characteristics:
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OPTIONAL: If you wish, choose one or more of these resources to explore further:
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If You Build It, They Will Come: Building Learning Communities Through Threaded Discussions - An oft-cited, informative article by Edelstein & Edward that also includes a rubric
Facilitating Online Discussions Effectively - An overview of the literature about designing and facilitating online discussions, by Alfred P. Rovai of Regent University (you may need to provide your Boise State login)
Web Conferencing
One concern we often hear from new online instructors is the absence of their students’ faces and body language. The asynchronous nature of online learning - meaning that students are accessing the content and participating in learning activities and assessments at varying times - can also take some adjustment.
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OPTIONAL: If you wish, read any of the following to learn more:
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- - A blog post by Mary Beth Hertz
Peer-to-Peer Collaboration Tool: Google+ Hangouts - By the Team Sprocket Assessment Tool Box, a collaborative project at the University of Wisconsin - Stout
7 Things You Should Know About Skype - A 2-page document from EDUCAUSE that outlines considerations for using Skype for synchronous discussions
Blogs/Journals
A blog, short for “Web log,” is a website where an individual can post his/her thoughts, with dated entries that appear with the most recent post first. The tone is informal, much like an online journal. Readers of the blog can make comments on the post, and the original author may write replies to those comments.
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OPTIONAL: If you wish, explore any of these resources to learn more about blogs:
Blogs in Plain English (2:48 minutes) - A video by the Common Craft Show, which is well-known for creating short videos that explain a variety of tools and concepts
What are Blogs? (1:37 minutes) - A video by Alan Wayman
- A collection of blogs by online students at the University of Liverpool
7 Things You Should Know About Blogs - A 2-page document from EDUCAUSE that outlines considerations for using blogs for personal learning experiences
References
Bodrero, R. (2012, July 23). Google+Hangouts in online education: A capable, low cost solution. (Links to an external site.) Learning Solutions Magazine. Retrieved from http://www.learningsolutionsmag.com/articles/972/google-hangouts-in-online-education-a-capable-low-cost-solution
Common Craft Show (2013). Blogs in plain English. (Links to an external site.) [Video file] Retrieved from httphttps://www.commoncraft.com/video/blogs
Edelstein, S. & Edwards, J. (2002, April). If you build it, they will come: Building learning communities through threaded discussions. (Links to an external site.) eLearn eLearn Magazine. Retrieved from httphttps://elearnmag.acm.org/featured.cfm?aid=566829&emailsent=1&CFID=41424174&CFTOKEN=83420119
EDUCAUSE (2005). 7 things you should know about blogs. (Links to an external site.) [PDF] Retrieved from httphttps://netlibrary.educause.edu/irresources/library2005/pdf/ELI7006.pdf9/7-things-you-should-know-about-blogs
EDUCAUSE (2007). 7 things you should know about Skype. (Links to an external site.) [PDF] Retrieved from httphttps://netlibrary.educause.edu/irresources/library2005/pdf/ELI7032.pdf9/7-things-you-should-know-about-blogs
Hertz, M. (2013, February 1). How educators and schools can make the most of Google Hangouts (Links to an external site.). [Blog post] Retrieved from httphttps://www.edutopia.org/blog/educators-schools-google-hangouts-mary-beth-hertz
Reiss, D. (2003). Educational Weblogs and resources/acknowledgments (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from http://www.wordsworth2.net/writing/weblogresource.htm (Links to an external site.)
Rovai, A. (2007). Facilitating online discussion effectively. Internet and Higher Education, 10(1), 77-88. Retrieved from http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.iheduc.2006.10.001
Smith, T. (2002). Discussions: importance, design, facilitation, and evaluation (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from http://www.ion.uillinois.edu/resources/pointersclickers/2002_11/index.aspevaluation.
Team Sprocket Assessment Tool Box. (2012). Peer to peer collaboration tool: Google + Hangout. (Links to an external site.) Retrieved from https://sites.google.com/site/teamsprocketassessmenttoolbox/home/introduction/quiz-test-maker-tool-classmarker/reflection-tool-live-journal/peer-to-peer-collaboration-tool-google-hangouts
University of Liverpool. (n.d). University Student Blog. (Links to an external site.) Retrieved from http://www.university-liverpool-online.com/online-learning/student-blog
Wayman, A. (Producer). (2007, January 29) What are blogs? (Links to an external site.) [Video file] httphttps://wwwyoutu.youtube.combe/watchuWaSLE1CELc?vfeature=uWaSLE1CELcshared