Comments on: Loosely coupled assessment http://mikecaulfield.com/2007/07/31/loosely-coupled-assessment/ edupunk, elearning, socialware, rhetoric, discourse analysis, instructional technology, keene nh, other stuff Sun, 20 Jul 2008 23:56:22 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 By: One small step for man » Blog Archive » Assessment meets WorldWare http://mikecaulfield.com/2007/07/31/loosely-coupled-assessment/#comment-117 One small step for man » Blog Archive » Assessment meets WorldWare Tue, 07 Aug 2007 05:49:57 +0000 http://mikecaulfield.com/2007/07/31/loosely-coupled-assessment/#comment-117 [...] Mike Caulfield writes a nice reality check on vendor ePortfolio packages: So enough of letting assessment vendors tell us what facilities we will be forced to use in their walled garden, and expecting us to be excited about it. Enough with assessment vendors selling us “environments”. What we should be doing is describing the the environment that might exist – students using Wordpress, Blogger, S3, GDrive, email, messaging, etc. And then we should ask if they have a tool that can evaluate that. How will their tool interface with the learning environment we’ve constructed? [...] […] Mike Caulfield writes a nice reality check on vendor ePortfolio packages: So enough of letting assessment vendors tell us what facilities we will be forced to use in their walled garden, and expecting us to be excited about it. Enough with assessment vendors selling us “environments”. What we should be doing is describing the the environment that might exist – students using Wordpress, Blogger, S3, GDrive, email, messaging, etc. And then we should ask if they have a tool that can evaluate that. How will their tool interface with the learning environment we’ve constructed? […]

]]> By: Harold Jarche » Fragmenting the PLE http://mikecaulfield.com/2007/07/31/loosely-coupled-assessment/#comment-100 Harold Jarche » Fragmenting the PLE Mon, 06 Aug 2007 15:43:50 +0000 http://mikecaulfield.com/2007/07/31/loosely-coupled-assessment/#comment-100 [...] For further reading: There is an similar conversation on Mike Caulfield’s blog about loosely coupled assessment. [...] […] For further reading: There is an similar conversation on Mike Caulfield’s blog about loosely coupled assessment. […]

]]> By: Mike http://mikecaulfield.com/2007/07/31/loosely-coupled-assessment/#comment-98 Mike Mon, 06 Aug 2007 02:15:09 +0000 http://mikecaulfield.com/2007/07/31/loosely-coupled-assessment/#comment-98 Actually, looking at this (of yours): http://www.virtualsherpa.net/pivot/entry.php?id=3 we may be on the same page. But from the technical side I think the best way to make sure the uses are not predefined is to not use a portfolio product, which by it's nature predefines uses. Use blogs, use word, use ANYTHING which does not have a predefined idea of what an eportfolio is... Actually, looking at this (of yours):

http://www.virtualsherpa.net/pivot/entry.php?id=3

we may be on the same page.

But from the technical side I think the best way to make sure the uses are not predefined is to not use a portfolio product, which by it’s nature predefines uses.

Use blogs, use word, use ANYTHING which does not have a predefined idea of what an eportfolio is…

]]> By: Mike http://mikecaulfield.com/2007/07/31/loosely-coupled-assessment/#comment-97 Mike Mon, 06 Aug 2007 02:05:38 +0000 http://mikecaulfield.com/2007/07/31/loosely-coupled-assessment/#comment-97 Agreed -- but I think it's more than that. Eportfolio is not a product -- it's a method of presentation and reflection. So even if we enumerate 20 uses for eportfolio, or 40, we're still doing a disservice. Think of eportfolio as something like the "theme essay" or "sports writing" or "still life painting" or anything along those lines. Or htink of it like a "blog". It's an approach to presentation which operates in certain conventions, technical and thematic. The best way to kill the essay writing abilities of students is to tell them they need an "essay writing product" to write them. The best way to pervert their understanding of portfolio thinking is to tell them they need a specific eportfolio product. If the product is not incidental to the process, I see that as a problem, not a benefit. Agreed — but I think it’s more than that.

Eportfolio is not a product — it’s a method of presentation and reflection.

So even if we enumerate 20 uses for eportfolio, or 40, we’re still doing a disservice.

Think of eportfolio as something like the “theme essay” or “sports writing” or “still life painting” or anything along those lines. Or htink of it like a “blog”.

It’s an approach to presentation which operates in certain conventions, technical and thematic.

The best way to kill the essay writing abilities of students is to tell them they need an “essay writing product” to write them.

The best way to pervert their understanding of portfolio thinking is to tell them they need a specific eportfolio product. If the product is not incidental to the process, I see that as a problem, not a benefit.

]]> By: Royce Robertson http://mikecaulfield.com/2007/07/31/loosely-coupled-assessment/#comment-96 Royce Robertson Sun, 05 Aug 2007 11:24:18 +0000 http://mikecaulfield.com/2007/07/31/loosely-coupled-assessment/#comment-96 If the institution believes that the purpose of the ePortfolio as a "system to post thier resumes on," then you are right about it failing miserably. I support 200+ students and faculty every year who are creating ePortfolios for various purposes - personal growth, program assessment, employment, and the beat goes on. The most annoying thing is when a faculty member or student cannot get off the assumption that the ePortfolio is a three-dimensional resume and only that. By the same token, it is frustrating when the narrow-mindedness obsesses about "using ePortfolios to keep our accreditation." That's not all it is. If the institution believes that the purpose of the ePortfolio as a “system to post thier resumes on,” then you are right about it failing miserably. I support 200+ students and faculty every year who are creating ePortfolios for various purposes - personal growth, program assessment, employment, and the beat goes on. The most annoying thing is when a faculty member or student cannot get off the assumption that the ePortfolio is a three-dimensional resume and only that. By the same token, it is frustrating when the narrow-mindedness obsesses about “using ePortfolios to keep our accreditation.” That’s not all it is.

]]> By: OLDaily[中文版] » Blog Archive » 2007å¹´8月1æ—¥ http://mikecaulfield.com/2007/07/31/loosely-coupled-assessment/#comment-73 OLDaily[中文版] » Blog Archive » 2007å¹´8月1æ—¥ Thu, 02 Aug 2007 11:29:51 +0000 http://mikecaulfield.com/2007/07/31/loosely-coupled-assessment/#comment-73 [...] Mike Caulfield, Weblog August 1, 2007 [原文链接] [Tags: Assessment, Online Learning] [...] […] Mike Caulfield, Weblog August 1, 2007 [原文链接] [Tags: Assessment, Online Learning] […]

]]> By: Mike http://mikecaulfield.com/2007/07/31/loosely-coupled-assessment/#comment-69 Mike Thu, 02 Aug 2007 01:05:15 +0000 http://mikecaulfield.com/2007/07/31/loosely-coupled-assessment/#comment-69 Agreed -- and what's interesting is this is where I think most people's thought is tending -- there's been a couple of instance in conversations where I've been about to suggest something similar to a net-enabled learning person, and the person I'm talking to says something like -- "Couldn't the student just submit an OPML file, and then the professor aggregates it and marks it up and tags it with metadata?" . Additionally, Jim Groom at http://bavatuesdays.com is looking at using the WP-autoblog tool to aggregate feeds into a central blog, where they can be categorized, rated, commented on or whatever. . So I think maybe rather than the PLE desktop tool, what we really need is a tool for professors -- because if we straighten that bit out, suddenly we have much more freedom to innovate in the real learning part of it, and we can bring back the organic focus we need. Agreed — and what’s interesting is this is where I think most people’s thought is tending — there’s been a couple of instance in conversations where I’ve been about to suggest something similar to a net-enabled learning person, and the person I’m talking to says something like — “Couldn’t the student just submit an OPML file, and then the professor aggregates it and marks it up and tags it with metadata?”
.
Additionally, Jim Groom at http://bavatuesdays.com is looking at using the WP-autoblog tool to aggregate feeds into a central blog, where they can be categorized, rated, commented on or whatever.
.
So I think maybe rather than the PLE desktop tool, what we really need is a tool for professors — because if we straighten that bit out, suddenly we have much more freedom to innovate in the real learning part of it, and we can bring back the organic focus we need.

]]> By: Tim http://mikecaulfield.com/2007/07/31/loosely-coupled-assessment/#comment-68 Tim Wed, 01 Aug 2007 23:30:04 +0000 http://mikecaulfield.com/2007/07/31/loosely-coupled-assessment/#comment-68 One idea that has been floating around in my head since the ElggJam conference (http://community.brighton.ac.uk/e10/) is for an assessment/evaluation tool to be based around an RSS reader. It would work basically like this: -Instructor has an account in the system (ideally just an OpenID) -students do not - they use whatever online tools they like, with the only restriction being that they can provide their content as RSS feeds (authenticated in necessary) -the instructor would then aggregate his students work from various sources (e.g. flickr, their blogs, their wiki contribs, facebook, whatever) -when viewing an element (e.g. blog post) in this reader, the instructor would have tools to comment, provide feedback, record achievement (grades) about the student and their progress This approach would provide the openness we all know should be there (let them use the tools they like) and still provide the centralized management that instructors need to keep track of it all. This would relegate the overblown closed-door content management systems (e.g. BlackCT) to a relatively small corner of the real assessment process... One idea that has been floating around in my head since the ElggJam conference (http://community.brighton.ac.uk/e10/) is for an assessment/evaluation tool to be based around an RSS reader.

It would work basically like this:
-Instructor has an account in the system (ideally just an OpenID)
-students do not - they use whatever online tools they like, with the only restriction being that they can provide their content as RSS feeds (authenticated in necessary)

-the instructor would then aggregate his students work from various sources (e.g. flickr, their blogs, their wiki contribs, facebook, whatever)

-when viewing an element (e.g. blog post) in this reader, the instructor would have tools to comment, provide feedback, record achievement (grades) about the student and their progress

This approach would provide the openness we all know should be there (let them use the tools they like) and still provide the centralized management that instructors need to keep track of it all. This would relegate the overblown closed-door content management systems (e.g. BlackCT) to a relatively small corner of the real assessment process…

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