Shifting Faculty Roles for New Learning Environments

AAC&U Conference , April 2-4 2009

Round Table presentation

Nils S. Peterson, Assistant Director of The Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology—Washington State University

Abstract: Washington State University has explored SharePoint (MOSS) as a lightweight learning management system (LMS) and SharePoint Mysites as an ePortfolio platform, supplemented with social networking tools and strategies. Integration between course spaces and portfolios has been done in a “hub and spoke” model. New strategies for facilitating and assessing learning necessitate a substantial change in faculty roles. In this session, participants will (1) explore the critical and integrative thinking skills that students will need in 21st century Web 2.0 learning/work environments and (2) use this exploration to reflect on novel assignments and faculty roles needed to (3) facilitate this learning.

The following documents were part of this discussion:

• Introduction, activity, and readings
• Current description of WSU’s work (see also this blog post from AAC&U Jan. 2009)
• Updated Learning Spectrum self-assessment
• Four strategies (different points on the Learning Spectrum)

Test drive the Harvesting Gradebook

We have been writing about an idea for a new approach to assessment of student work taking place in Web 2.0 environments. Gary Brown coined the term Harvesting Gradebook to describe this idea.

You are invited to try the Harvesting Gradebook as a member of the world community. This time-sensitive opportunity is part of a Washington State University course happening during Spring 2009.

Please understand that you are working with real students and an instructor in an actual running course. We appreciate your thoughtful and sensitive feedback. This blog also welcomes your meta-comments on the idea and the experience.

PROCESS

The instructor’s blog contains the assignment a series of posts which serve as the assignment prompt beginning here and adding some style guides and then some clarifications about the blog content and the assessment criteria and then a topic list. The balance of the instructor’s blog are personal reflections and modeling of activities in the assignment.

The instructor’s blog roll provides a link to the student blogs. In them you will see multiple posts by students, inviting traditional blog comments, and (in many cases) with an invitation to a “survey” that will look something like this:

Please evaluate this post:

http://skylight.wsu.edu/s/xxxxx.srv

You can preview the survey (opens in new window) (don’t post review data here, this is a just a preview ). Previewing is worth while because you will be asked to reflect on the assignment prompt, the student work and the value of the rubric itself. This 360-degree review is a reason we are calling this a transformative assessment approach.

Understand this is a work in progress, we are revising based on feedback and our own reflection. Also, understand that we are attempting to model the process by which this kind of process is evolved by the community using it, so your feedback to us (comment or trackback) is valuable. Please give us meta-comments on the process that are not appropriate for the feedback form itself.

If this experience whets your appetite to learn more about our thinking, a collection of materials can be found in a round table we prepared for AAC&U in January .