Online Assessment

I think online assessment is an important tool for teaching and learning nowadays as education is getting more advanced and innovative. It can be used as informed progress and guide learning, and measured outcomes and success of the students that didn’t exist 10 years ago. Students tend to be more self-managed and active learning and participation because of the renovation of the education. It is a good signal. Active learning should always be better than someone who forces you to learn. For instance, I was in Hong Kong high school before I came to Canada. When I went to classes that I was interested in, I never came late for those classes and actively ask questions for the concepts I didn’t understand. So, I could get a good grade for those classes (Active learning). How about other classes which I wasn’t interested in? I don’t remember how many classes I failed. But the main point is that I had no incentive to study those classes, but my parents forced me to do so (Passive learning). Moreover, because of the online assessment, teachers should have a better “understanding the processes and outcomes of student learning, and understanding the students who have done the learning” (Stephen Segrave and Mary Rice). They should easily know the level of student’s ability. What teachers really have to do through online assessment? They only have to give instructions to students for how to assess. Most of the time, students will learn from doing through online assessment. So, learning tends to be more independent than 10 years before. Online assessment increases use of information and communications to enhance learning experience. I believe it should increase the quality of teaching and learning.
One of the examples is WebCT exam, before the development of online assessment, paper exams will be provided by instructors. The process of creating paper exams is time-consuming and costly. Moreover, it is not flexible at all. For example, the date of examination, time, and place are fixed. If instructors want to change a few questions on the exams, they have to go through the whole process again. Furthermore, the time for marking the exams is huge. However, when the WebCT exam emerges, it changes the whole conventional environment. For instance, automatic marking; there is no fixed time for the exam that students can choose the time they want; it can help instructors to manage large volume of workload, etc. Therefore, I believe WebCT can maximize efficient and effective learning. By the way, WebCT can also provide more timely feedback for students to get further improvement.

Reference
Online Assessment: http://www.cshe.unimelb.edu.au/assessinglearning/03/online.html
Segrave. S. & Rice, M. (2003). Designing online assessment of student learning. Retrieved February 18, 2006 at: http://www.deakin.edu.au/teachlearn/cases/files/2003oltf/resources/eddesign/assess01.doc

The New Online Communiation: Ebooks

Nowadays, the world tends to be more technological and innovative. One of the examples is Ebooks, which are the new online communication for this generation. They provide more convenient than printed books. As long as you have a technological device, such as laptop or palm, you then don’t have to hold the books that you want to read all the time when you hang out. The only thing you have to do is turn on the laptop or palm, surfing on the internet, then you can directly read on your screen (of course, you must have a software for you to gain access that is compatible with your device).
Honestly, I love ebooks. So, I have a different perspective as what the author said in almost the end of the paragraph. In that paragraph, she hopes printed books not be replaced by the ebooks. However, I hope printed books will be replaced because of a number of conveniences to me as a student. First of all, it saves me a lot of money if I buy an ebook instead of printed books (most of the time, ebooks cost less than printed book). Because of the ebooks, it also saves much paper for binding. This is good news for the whole environment. Sometimes, when I want to buy books before the semester starts, there always is a possibility that the books I want are out of sales. But, ebooks will never happen. So long as I pay for the fee to gain access on the web, then I will immediately have an ebook to read. Moreover, I don’t even have to be on the line and wait for paying for the printed text. It will save me lot of time. Lastly, even if I want to print an ebook to class, I don’t even have to print the whole ebook and bring it to class. What I need is to print a chapter an instructor teaches on that class, so I don’t have to bring the whole ebook during the school time. I truly believe that it is really convenient. Don’t you think so? That’s why I want printed books will be replaced by ebooks…

Here is the article that I am responding to:
http://www.atlanticbridge.net/publishing/otherresources/whatis.htm

Learning Object

First of all, I was so confused about the meaning of learning object before I read the article. I thought it was about the learning objective. Yet, I was totally wrong. By definition, learning object is that “any entity, digital, or digital, that may be used for learning, education or training” (Beck, Robert J., 2007). That means a learning object can be anything, such as people, online video, blog, etc., as long as it can use for educational purposes. It is really important for the online learning or teaching, which uses digital resources to enhance learning, such as animated videos and images. I don’t think students would like to read a 40-50 pages for one chapter in the textbook. To create a video for people to learn, it can increase their interests. Also, a learning object can break down to smaller pieces; it will be easier to learn and understand the materials. From the teaching perspectives, it can save much time on teaching and paperwork on the materials that they hand out. Moreover, it can provide the flexibility for both students and instructors. No matter where you are, you still can teach or learn through online. It leads to teach and learn independently. Does it mean that the lack of communication or interaction between students and instructors as a result?? NO. The world is the digital world nowadays. Communication or interaction problems can be solved by email, blog, website, webcam, etc. It also provides the ability of sharing for them; it saves time and costs. Furthermore, it is reusable for different learning content among other educational settings courses. Without a doubt, it is a new way for online learning; it can bring the world to be even more efficient and effective.