October 21, 2011

On October 21, 2011 I attended “Blackboard Assessments” in the Developing and Delivering Online Instruction Certification Program.

The following learning objectives were covered :

·         Creating Tests

·         Deploying Tests

·         Grading Tests

·         Creating Advanced Questions

·         Creating Question Sets/Pools

·         Creating Surveys

Multiple test question formats were discussed; such as, true/false, multiple choice/answer, fill in the blank, essay, and hotspot.  The instructor also demonstrated how to assign and override test grades in the Grade Center and how to view test statistics.   The four types of metadata were briefly discussed and how to add them to questions.

Later in the day, I spent the afternoon with an AUM instructional designer brainstorming ideas for the use of Echo360 lecture capture for a professor in the School of Nursing.  The professor would like to use the program to record full lectures.  She wants the lectures available as an online resource for the students.  She also wanted other ideas to enhance the learning experience for students.  The course is structured using the traditional teacher centric model where the teacher directs learning and is the active participant and the student the passive.  We thought it would be more productive to add group activity and possibly use the lecture capture program not only to record class lectures, but also to record demonstrations and presentations by guest speakers.  Another idea was to form groups, assign team roles, and task the students with a research project and eventually have the students present their findings in class where the presentations might be recorded through the lecture capture software.

I found an interesting article at the link below where the program is being used to allow students to access the lectures as homework.  The students are then prepared for more active participation in class through discussions and project work.  Many people criticize this use because they think the online lectures are long and tedious.  I agree that Professors should try and break the lectures down into segments/chunks for easier assimilation; however, those (in class) lectures can be just as long and tedious.  So, I think the idea has merit.  Many students would appreciate the ability to access the lectures asynchronously and enjoy more time in class for active participation and project work.   

http://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-with-technology-articles/lecture-capture-can-change-classroom-dynamics-for-the-better/