Assessment Fatigue

Assignment fatique.. assessment fever..

This week has been hard studying and working.It is coming to the end of our 'Semester' at wrok so we have a lot of assessment issues to work through at work.I need to prepare an exam etc.
On top of that there have been assessments in both 5601 and 5621.One problem that I have with assessments is that I tend to focus on them and then there is a possibility of getting behind in other tasks.I am finding this to be the case right now. Treading water fast as I can to stay afloat would be a great analogy.

Sure it is all character building etc. But it is also down right frustrating as you feel that even with your best efforts you are forced into an expedient posture in order to meet dedlines.On the other hand it is just not possible to achieve learning without some prioritizing and that usually requires a little bit of stress.

In the spectroscopy course I am doing, we had a pop quiz dropped on us without notice. I think that is something I won't do with my students because that really annoyed me. Taking an assessment for which I had no warning and thus made no preparation..I was pretty much fuming, though I didn't say anything..

So with web design and learning design I need to go on line and say something erudite, learned and referenced on the respective topics.The only problem is that also requires preparation.Going to need to get into a lot of reading before I can feel confident to do that..Not a big bike riding weekend I am thinking..

Reflective Log 22 March 2009

5621
Last week was v busy in terms of my ‘Educational Theory’ learning. Besides the penny dropping on the structure of the course, materials, media etc modeling modern learning theories, I also got a good taste of cooperative learning.


As I started to read some of the theory of learning design I began to recognize portions of that theory being reflected in the 5621 course materials. Not explicitly but implicitly in the choice of media structure of materials and learning activities. That was kind of a sweet nugget.


During the week I also went on 2 ‘Teaching and Learning’ professional development activities; one on cooperative learning and one on using journals for reflective learning. Both of these PDs had homework given. “We are supposed to try them out in the classroom’ So I am going to do that too. That should be good for reflection.

I also had two meetings to discuss these courses specifically. One with Cheri to discuss different tools I might use in the course. The other with Holly and Wilf to discuss this course. I found these meetings very useful. It is good to have short meetings to discuss these things. We give each other some good ideas and also good to bounce our ideas off someone. Sort of group constructivist learning?

I also started a PD with Dr. Zaid Said on spectroscopy. It was interesting to reflect in practice during this PD to see the things that worked for me in that learning situation also. Definitely it is good to have a variety of learning activities as different learners benefit from different approaches.

On a related topic, Grace is doing lots of learning at the moment, she completed a Basic Life Support class last week and is doing the Advanced Cardiac Life Support course next week and in the meantime all the while doing an IELTs course. So there are plenty of opportunities to reflect on learning.

I have been putting some thought into the project assignment. This was giving me a real headache. But I got a really good tip from Holly which was to read ahead and skim the later units of 5601. I have done that last night and I agree this was a great idea. I now have an idea of a project.

I want to build some learning activities in CH1011 that will be a more modern type of learning. Including groupwork, some on-line discussion and reflection. As the students are really not familiar with this, their experience is more objectivist and behaviorist, I am going to take a measured approach. I am thinking about the review of CH1010 module for CH1011 with special attention to the mathematics. This is an area we have identified in Mike Conn’s project as needing development. It is also something that we have some freedom to develop as apposed to the credit courses which are defined in Newfoundland. I think I can use survey-monkey to help with analysis among other things..

5621
Well I finally finished the assignment 1 on Thursday night. This was nice since the deadline was Friday (or was is Saturday) whatever. I had expected that I might have to spend most of Friday working on it, especially since I had some little bits of code that were holding me up, specifically applying styles with CSS but inside the XHTML code. The problem being that the example in the notes was not complete (had an unterminated style string). But hey I solved it simply by applying logic to the problem. The notes did say that all code strings need to terminate. So I just made up what I thought would be the appropriate termination symbols and it worked. I was so pleased that I got up on Thursday and rode for 3 hours hard in the desert.. Now that I call rewards for learning..

I would definitely say that I am getting to the point in both these courses where learning is starting to have its own rewards. In terms of aha moments and that sweet feeling of being able to see more clearly something that now transparent was recently opaque.

Reflective Log 5601 16 March 2009

More Eureka moments here.
Hey I think I might actually be learning something here...
For the last couple of days I have been trying to settle on a project topic for the course and also get my head around the actual requirements for the project proposal (Assignment 1) and the project itself.
So I have read the required readings for module one and turned my attention to the assignment exemplars that are provide online for download. This I have found to be a treasure trove and I have been mining that particular gold mine today.
The exemplar project proposals I have found are quite varied in approach and to a certain extent even in depth. This I have found comforting as it puts me a bit more at ease that my own offering will be acceptable. But the biggest benefit from the exemplars I am finding is that I am learning as much about and from the structure of the learning materials and process as I am from the theory. Sharon Watson has citied Biggs in referring to ‘aligned teaching’ where all aspects of the learning unit promote rather than hinder learning. Reading Watson’s project, in her discussion of design principles, learning activities and content sequencing, she citied several studies into learning methods such as ‘on-line socialisation’, acclimatization, formative reflection scaffolding learning engagement and asynchronous discussion (Salmon & Giles, 1997, Lawless 2005, Thorpe 1995, Seimans, 2005. Coincidentally all of these methods rang a bell of familiarity with me as they are employed in the design of this unit and the other unit (FET5621) that I am studying this semester. This realization was both comforting and informative to me. Comforting, in that it was obvious that USQ is practicing what it preaches in terms of Designing Learning modules and instructive as I realized that I was learning how to design learning not just from the assessment items and reading but from the very process that has been set up through the course structure..

FET5601 Reflective Journal

Saturday afternoon here in beautiful Doha.

I have been studying my Master of Education at USQ for 2 weeks now including 2 weekends. Oh yes I remember weekends. Times when I used to spend a lot of time riding motorbikes, cleaning and servicing motorbikes. The last 2 weekends have been spent studying.

In FET5601, Learning Design for Flexible Contexts, we have been learning about reflecting in and on practice as per Schon, teaching in the knowledge society as per Laurillard, constructivism and constructionism as per Dougiamas, and models for Instructional Design as per McGriff and Seimans.

One of the main problems with study for me has been/is balancing the study with family duties. Speaking of which, it seems I have to go and get some dinner for folks. Back later..

Back a couple of hours and later and soon I will be going to bed..

Work, eat, sleep, study... who could ask for more.. Just pay me and give me some time in there to ride my bikes and I am happy as Larry..

Back to 5601..
So we are currently talking about flexible learning. I was thinking student centered, blended learning etc. Basically in terms purely of eduspeak, you know, the words you use in a staff meeting so they all know you have been doing your homework.. meaningless but socially important.. But then I read some ideas from Anita and Derek talking about teaching classes with varied abilities and using Moodle respectively and the idea came to me like a flash. That is it. There is my project for 5601. I will do some blended learning in my Chemistry class.. Or at least prepare a module allowing for that..
Back to reading now.. always plenty of that..