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PT3412 Netcourse, Technology Supported Assessments (TSA)
Dr. Jason Ravitz (June, 2001).


OVERVIEW

Each week there will be an exciting Reading, Activity, and Discussion.

Let us know if you have any problems, so we can help you make the most of your time.

  • Start the Readings early so you can enjoy the discussion as it develops. 
  • Try each Activity early in the week, and report problems right away! 
  • Don't wait until you "finish" to get started with the Discussions. 
Post initial ideas, respond to colleagues, come back and and develop new understandings together!


Weekly Checklist!
If you don't know what to do, try this -- When an entire column is checked (to your satisfaction) you're done!
 
 
What to do each week? Why? Where? Wk1 2 3 4 5 6
READING Catch up with latest thinking in the field. Go to Course Documents. Download and print a few weeks in advance, to be safe!            
ACTIVITY Experience what this means in practice. Instructions are provided in the Assignments for each week.            
DISCUSSION  Help improve each others ideas! Discussion Boards include prompts for the Reading & Activity each week. Reply to these and then to each other.            
Let us know how it is going! Pull together for the next round of excitement! Monitor progress using "Weekly Discussions" in the Discussion Board            
Socialize. 
Have fun!
Enjoy your classmates! Use the "Water Cooler" and other areas in the Discussion Board for meeting each other.            


READINGS
Instructions for Downloads - Save it and Print!
Print these, mark them up, carry them around with you. This should help you think about this class even when you're not at the computer, and it is safer this way too!

Opening New Links: When you click on outside links in this seminar (going to sites with readings or activities) they will open in a *new window*. You may have to move this window aside to see it, and then move that one aside to return here. Try It

Week 1: Diving In
Baker, E. (1998, November). Understanding Educational Quality: Where Validity Meets Technology, by Eva L. Baker, William H. Angoff Memorial Lecture Series. Princeton, NJ: Educational Testing Service. Available : http://www.ets.org/research/pic/angoff5.pdf

Week 2: Information Seeking and Problem-Solving
Underdahl, J, Palacio-Cayetano, J., & Stevens, R. (2001). Practice Makes Perfect Assessing and Enhancing Knowledge and Problem-Solving Skills with IMMEX Software. Eugene, OR: International Society for Technology in Education. [WWW Document]. Available (for limited use): http://www.gse.uci.edu/Ravitz/immex/immex.html

Week 3: Automated Essay Grading
Foltz, P., Laham, D., & Landauer, T. (1999). The Intelligent Essay Assessor: Applications to Educational Technology. Interactive Multimedia Electronic Journal of Computer-Enhanced Learning, 1(2). Winston-Salem, NC: Wake Forest University, [WWW Document]. Available: http://imej.wfu.edu/articles/1999/2/04/printver.asp

Week 4:  Concept Mapping
Ruiz-Primo, M., Schultz, S., Li, M., & Shavelson, R. (1999, June)  On the cognitive validity of interpretations of scores from alternative concept mapping techniques.  CSE Technial Report 503. Center for Study of Evaluation.  Los Angeles, CA:  UCLA Center for the Study of Evaluation,  [WWW Document].  Available: http://www.cse.ucla.edu/CRESST/Reports/TECH503.PDF

Week 5: Knowledge Forum
What Results Show.  Summary of Research Findings. [ WWW Document]. Available: http://www.knowledgeforum.com/Research.htm

Week 6: Handheld Collaboration Assessments
Means, B., Penuel, B. & Quellmalz, E. (2000). Developing Assessments for Tomorrow's Classrooms.  Secretary's Conference on Educational Technology. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Education. [WWW Document].  Available: http://www.ed.gov/Technology/techconf/2000/means_paper.html



 

ACTIVITIES

Week 1: Profiler (online survey with dynamic display)

Week 2 IMMEX (online problem-solving demo)

Week 3: Latent Semantic Analysis (online essay grading)

Week 4: CRESST's Knowledge Mapper (online concept mapping assessment)

Week 5: Knowledge Forum's Analysis Toolkit (online conversation assessment)

Week 6: Handheld Assessments (handheld ollaboration asessment)

New technologies offer incredible opportunities, but who knows?  The technology gods may frown on our attempts. Don't worry. We'll have alternative activities in reserve in case one or another does not pan out. There are some obstacles: browser system versions being one, but we have tested these out. Thanks for joining us on this new frontier! :-)

Remember to save your work in other applications, and quit the ones you are not using whenever doing work in this class! If you still have problems, try boosting your memory allocation for Acrobat Reader or Netscape/Explorer.


EXPECTATIONS - Roles of instructor and participants

The biggest challenge of taking a course online is not the technology or the content, it is keeping everyone engaged and interacting with each other. A NetSeminar is not a self-study course! Maintaining regular commmunication and participation will make the course more useful and enjoyable for everyone. 

The Instructor's job is to select activities and readings that promote learning without wasting participants' time, to be responsive to public and private communications, and to accomodate the unique interests, needs, and situations of each participant as much as possible. However, the 'Netseminar' model calls for instructors to 'stay out of the middle' of group discussion as much as possible once a topic is begun. Directing the flow and content of conversations around the readings is part of the... 

Participant's role. Participation involves keeping up with assignments and readings, making contributions to the group discussion in a timely enough manner that conversation can ensue (i.e. don't wait until Tuesday night every week to post!) and taking responsibility to direct the flow of discussion toward important issues
 
 


To Continue

Scroll up to the top of this document and click on [Top] above, and proceed to the next document, "Our Expectations of You."