Assessment and Alignment

We’ve added a new category to our web-based resources and included the content below. Find these resources and more on our web-based resources page.

Professor Dancelot and the Perils of a Misaligned Course

No one would really teach a dance class this way, would they? This video takes a humorous look at what can go wrong when a course’s learning activities do not align with the intended outcomes and assessment. Although this is an exaggerated example, it reminds us to look at the courses we teach to see if any of the elements are out of alignment.

Assessment & Instructional Alignment – An Online Tutorial for Faculty

Learning assessment is more than testing students and assigning grades. It is a system that provides feedback about student learning. This tutorial introduces an assessment approach using the Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy. Using the taxonomy can improve your assessment system and improve student learning by aligning course objectives, activities and assessments with each other. In this course you’ll learn how to:

• Write observable learning objectives.
• Choose learning activities that support your learning objectives.
• Choose assessments that match your activities and objectives.
• Use a taxonomy to align learning objectives, activities and assessments.

New Webinar Opportunity

Respondus is a powerful tool for creating and importing exams into your Blackboard courses. Two, free forty-five minute sessions are offered to introduce you to Respondus 4.0. These sessions are also great for those of you who are familiar with the software but would like a refresher.

Wednesday, March 27th at 2 p.m. ET – Register

Thursday, March 28th at 4 p.m. ET – Register

Seats are limited, so be sure to sign up soon if you are interested. The sessions will cover the following:

• Overview of Respondus 4.0
• Using the Import Wizard to bring in questions from other sources, including formatting tips for Word files
• Copying items from other Respondus files from the Edit Tab
• Accessing publisher test banks through the Respondus Test Bank Network
• Using the Retrieval Tab to reuse and/or edit assessments already in your LMS
• A chance to ask questions

UAS has a site license for Respondus and you can download the program, using your UA username and password, at http://www.uas.alaska.edu/idc/respondus/index.html.

Reminder: Google in Education Alaska Summit

This high intensity, two-day event in April (6-7) at the University of Alaska Anchorage focuses on deploying, integrating, and using Google Apps for Education and other Google Tools to promote student learning in K-12 and higher education. The program features Google Certified Teachers, Google Apps for Education Certified Trainers, practicing administrators, solution providers, Google engineers, and representatives from the Google education teams. For more information and to register visit the original blog post.

Reminder: SoftChalk Webinar March 6!

Join us for an info-packed, hands-on webinar Wednesday, March 6 from 8:30 am – 12:00 pm!

You must register prior to March 6 to receive the download files and log on information. How do you do that? View our blog post for all that good information!

Image: ©iStockphoto.com/CamiloTorres

Some Things I Learned at ASTE 2013

I just returned from the ASTE 2013 Conference in Anchorage and thought I might share a few things that I took away. First, one of the keynote speakers, Cara Heitz showcased her k12 classroom that was based on using blogs and wikis. She stressed that teachers today need to design their own professional development to fit their needs. I believe that she is right. We have to actively stress to stay relevant and find the tools that help us to be more efficient and effective learners and teachers.

Steven Moss gave us some great lessons learned from research. One thing that he stressed was that there is NO research to support the claim that our “digital native” students, brought up with technology, learn differently from older people. NONE. He says that the brains of this ‘net’ generation have not suddenly developed new neurological pathways, or morphed. They are not innately better at technology or multi-tasking! They may have better attitudes and enjoy change more than older people/students, but don’t believe the hype that their brains are remapping to better use technology. He also gave us these three pearls:

1. Information-understanding-knowledge are not synonymous. We must figure out ways to have our students use the information and turn it into knowledge
2. There is NO proven relationship between increased time on task and learning – in other words, don’t mistake engagement with learning.
3. The Everest Fallacy – don’t just use technology “because it’s there”

While we’re on the subject of technologies that are “there” – I learned about some pretty cool apps and programs that I am not currently using, but may try. Something I’ve learned over the years is that you can’t really incorporate something into your personal learning environment without trying it out, without giving it a trial period before you accept or reject it. And, rarely do I add more than one thing at a time. Well, here are some interesting places that you might enjoy checking out:

The First Google in Education Alaska Summit!

A new exciting opportunity for Alaskan educators! Jim Sill, who presented a two day Google workshop for Sitka faculty and staff last year, is coming to Anchorage for the first Google in Education Alaska Summit. This high intensity, two day event in April (6-7) at the University of Alaska Anchorage focuses on deploying, integrating, and using Google Apps for Education and other Google Tools to promote student learning in K-12 and higher education. The program features Google Certified Teachers, Google Apps for Education Certified Trainers, practicing administrators, solution providers, Google engineers, and representatives from the Google education teams. For more information and to register visit the event’s Registration Page.

For those of you who have engaged in Title III sponsored professional development activities in the past year, you may apply for travel funds for this summit. If you are interested, send Mary Purvis an email prior to March 15, 2013 stating the following:

1. Why you want to attend.
2. What Title III activities have you engaged in in the last year?

If you are a seasoned Google tool user and would like to present at the summit sharing your expertise, please contact us for information on how to present at this conference.

Hands-On SoftChalk Training

Join us for an info-packed webinar on March 6 from 8:30 am – 12:00 pm, brought to you free from your Title III team!

This three and a half hour webinar will cover the basics of SoftChalk. You will learn how to:

• Copy from Word into SoftChalk
• Create navigation in a lesson
• Insert graphics and media into a lesson
• Create simple interactions
• Create and modify an activity, and quiz
• Create a connection to Blackboard
• Publish a lesson to Blackboard

Computer Requirements: 

VoiceThread Recorded Webinar

VoiceThread is a tool that you can add to your online or face-to-face classroom that will allow you to create interactive voice or text conversations. It can be used in so many different ways. If you missed the webinar this week on creating VoiceThread we have the link to the recorded session available to you. We encourage you to listen and give VoiceThread a try.

Remember – if you make your VoiceThread shareable by the link, all of your students will be able to view your VoiceThread and hear you speak. For them to comment, they will need to log into their own VoiceThread account. If you have questions, please contact your Instructional Design Team.

To reinforce how easy it is to embed a VoiceThread into your Blackboard course, view this short tutorial.

iTeach Sitka

Early this summer, a small group of faculty will converge for a week of intensive work on a course intended for fall or spring delivery (2013-2014). This could be you!

iTeach Sitka will be June 3-7, 2013 and is based on a UAF model which provides opportunities for small groups of faculty to develop their online courses with a supportive group of like-minded faculty. Support staff will teach, coach, guide and mentor you through the various steps of course development.

VoiceThread Basics Webinar

VoiceThread Basics Webinar
Times: 10 am – 11 am
Location: Online

Navigating, creating, commenting on, and sharing VoiceThread as well as using VoiceThread inside Blackboard. Registration information can be found on our Webinar page.