Week 5 : My Reflections

The assignment schedule for week 5 included  a discussion on creating rubrics for alternative assessment, Project-based learning and webQuests. We were also asked to complete two tasks viz. creating a rubric using the website  http://rubistar.4teachers.org/  and another task was to describe a potential change which could occur in our target classes with the application of  appropriate technological tools. An additional extra credit task was to create a webQuest at http://www.zunal.com/.

Discussion: Assessment, rubrics and project-based learning

As Smiles points out this week's discussion focuses on three interrelated issues of online learning: project based learning (PBL, hereafter), rubrics and webquests. PBL , as Liliana , Bernie and many other friends have suggested, is a learner-centered and inquiry-oriented method of learning where learners, with some guidance from their teacher, try to find solution to some of very clearly defined and specific problems assigned to them by their teacher. This is "learning by doing" and the value of this approach lies in the total cognitive and affective processes used by the learners for exploring ways and means to arrive at the solution or to complete a particular task. PBL is like a mini research project which gives learners a sense of thrill and accomplishment on its completion. So PBL is great fun, it is competitive, it , caters to learners' various learning styles, motivates them and keeps their total attention on completing the project at hand at their own pace, in consultation with their class mates or mentor. Compared to a class where students fear ridicule at incorrect responses, PBL is non-Face threatening and it instills a sense of confidence in learners.

In spite of its various advantages PBL has had only moderate success in academic circles where teaching through lecturing/explaining is still predominant. Sujith's assertion that learners don't find PBL interesting has some truth in it. If the project does not have a clear road map, learners may just get caught in the quagmire of world wide web and may feel lost and demotivated. The teacher has to play the multiple roles of (broad) project designer, technical adviser, superviser and facilitator. A teacher needs to be "just there" as Robert and Janine have been for all of us. Moreover, as Janine has very pertinently pointed out, projects should cater to the age and linguistic level of our students. So it is a real hard work that keeps the teacher on his toes till the project is completed. Janine has given us a nice link http://www.edutopia.org/project-based-learning-guide to give us an idea of project-based learning.

In week 5 assignment schedule Robert has defined PBL as an approach where learners are given instructions and resources (scaffolding), then they work in groups create a project. This is similar to problem-based learning, where learners work to come up with a solution to a specific, usually real-world, problem. If the task is authentic and the audience is broad, this is especially effective. I think the key word here is "scaffolding" where alongside giving clear and specific instructions the teacher has to take care of the following:

• The design and set up of the project
• On demand technical support/solutions
• Immediate guidance/feedback
• Detailed criteria for assessment
• An awareness of learners' proficiency levels
• An awareness of content complexity and challenge
• Constant motivation to learners

I think only continued supervision and support by teacher can encourage learners to complete the project successfully.

PBL, in short, is an exciting area to explore and I hope to use it in my upper-intermediate classes where learners have examination-oriented learning motivation. I am very sure that if I blend PBL with my traditional classroom teaching, my learners will feel motivated and enthusiastic to learn English communicatively

Project Task 4: Describe a potential change

Academics at the college level in India have always been strongly influenced by the annual examinations. What teachers teach and what students learn is largely dictated by what will figure in the exams. Subject areas which are not important from the viewpoint of examinations are either not dealt with seriousness or they are simply neglected. Tests have a great impact on the way we teach and learn any subject. The simple logic is: `Why bother to study the entire curriculum when you can score well by studying limited portion of the prescribed syllabus'. Hence it is testing, not the 'official' stated curriculum, that is increasingly determining what is taught, how it is taught, what is learned, and how it is learned. I believe that annual achievement tests for English language learning have had a negative wash back effect on the entire teaching and learning operations in India.

When I went through the links http://www.nclrc.org/essentials/assessing/alternative.htm , http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/tannen01.html on alternative assessment, I saw an opportunity to convert the negative wash back into positive wash back by choosing rubrics. As described by Robert in Week 5 assignment schedule, a rubric is a kind of contract between the teacher and the learners, so that learners know that if they do the things associated with "excellent" in the rubric, they will get an "excellent" mark. Students are more motivated, and assessment is easier. The main goal is to "gather evidence about how students are approaching, processing, and completing real-life tasks in a particular domain" (Huerta-Macias, 1995, p. 9). Here students' attention is shifted from a term-end test and they are involved in genuine language learning experience through various classroom and online tools like projects and webQuests. As many of my course mates have said in their posts such learning is dynamic, authentic and personally so rewarding to learners that they do the learning tasks for the joy of "doing" them and not for passing exams. 

As I am grappling with the problem of examination-oriented learners, I think a gradual introduction of rubrics, PBL and webQuests will raise my learners' motivation to learn English for improving their proficiency levels. Following detailed instructions by Robert, I was able to create rubric  for teaching and assessing a persuasive essay : Do advantages of playing video games over weigh the disadvantages? for my upper intermediate learners at http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=ShowRubric&rubric_id=2249356& and also create a webQuest on how to teach a persuasive essay at http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=171218.

Task: Create a rubric

http://rubistar.4teachers.org is yet another great find for me in this wonderful course. It is a handy tool for creating ready to use rubrics which can be customized as per our learning focus. The best thing about this tool is that it allows you not only to assess learners' performance but also help them with clear guidelines for assessing their performance. No wonder most of my fellow teachers in this course have found this tool extremely useful in teaching and assessing learners.

Here is the link to rubric I created for teaching and assessing a persuasive essay : Do advantages of playing video games over weigh the disadvantages? for my upper intermediate learners. 

http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=ShowRubric&rubric_id=2249356&

Extra Credit Task: Create a technology-enhanced project or WebQuest

Robert describes WebQuests as a form of PBL that follows a fairly specific pattern. The teacher creates the task statement and designates the resources (learners do not "just search"). Learners work in groups and have a specified product. The teacher produces an evaluation in the form of a rubric for students to use as they are doing their project and for self-evaluation when it is finished. The teacher evaluates with the rubric as well. After going through some sample projects at http://susangaer.com/studentprojects/ and using the website http://www.zunal.com/ I was able to create my first ever webQuest on how to teach a persuasive essay at http://zunal.com/webquest.php?w=171218 for my upper intermediate students. I hope they will find learning through webQuests quite exciting and rewarding and this experience will raise their motivation to learn and use English for genuine communication.