Creating Authentic Assessments for Online Music Courses

2018 ◽  
pp. 263-285
Author(s):  
Carol Johnson ◽  
Virginia Christy Lamothe
Keyword(s):  
Online Discussion ◽  
Authentic Learning ◽  
Authentic Assessment ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Pedagogical Approach ◽  
Learning Tasks ◽  
Authentic Assessments ◽  
Online Music ◽  
Music Class ◽  
Teaching In Higher Education

The need for identifying authentic assessments, or learning tasks, in online music courses is becoming integral as the rate of online music course offerings has been exponentially increasing. Supportive research also suggests that instructors teaching in higher education may require a paradigm shift in their pedagogical approach as they develop social-constructivist based authentic assessments for music subjects taught in an online environment. To assist with the understanding of both why and how to generate authentic assessment for a Bachelor's-level online music course, the chapter explores the nature of authentic assessment for music and Koh's Criteria for Authenticity in Authentic Assessment. Finally, to provide a practical exemplar of how online discussions can be used as an authentic learning tool in the online music class, an online discussion task for a songwriting class is identified and examined through the lens of Koh's characteristics.

scholarly journals Creating Authentic Assessments for Online Music Courses

2021 ◽  
pp. 531-553
Author(s):  
Carol Johnson ◽  
Virginia Christy Lamothe
Keyword(s):  
Online Discussion ◽  
Authentic Learning ◽  
Authentic Assessment ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Pedagogical Approach ◽  
Learning Tasks ◽  
Authentic Assessments ◽  
Online Music ◽  
Music Class ◽  
Teaching In Higher Education

The need for identifying authentic assessments, or learning tasks, in online music courses is becoming integral as the rate of online music course offerings has been exponentially increasing. Supportive research also suggests that instructors teaching in higher education may require a paradigm shift in their pedagogical approach as they develop social-constructivist based authentic assessments for music subjects taught in an online environment. To assist with the understanding of both why and how to generate authentic assessment for a Bachelor's-level online music course, the chapter explores the nature of authentic assessment for music and Koh's Criteria for Authenticity in Authentic Assessment. Finally, to provide a practical exemplar of how online discussions can be used as an authentic learning tool in the online music class, an online discussion task for a songwriting class is identified and examined through the lens of Koh's characteristics.

scholarly journals Using the Photovoice Method to Elicit Authentic Learning in Online Discussions

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-138
Author(s):  
Beatriz M Reyes-Foster ◽  
Aimee DeNoyelles
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Research Method ◽  
Online Discussion ◽  
Authentic Learning ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Course Content ◽  
College Classrooms ◽  
Points Of View

While online discussions remain popular in college classrooms, mixed results persist about their effectiveness in eliciting authentic learning. This case study explores how students perceive the influence of the Photovoice method on their authentic learning, critical thinking, engagement, and peer interaction in an asynchronous online discussion. Photovoice is a research method combining photography with social action, in which people express their points of view by photographing scenes that highlight certain themes. Students in an online undergraduate course engaged in an online discussion which asked them to connect personal images to the course content. Students reported that this strategy supported authentic learning, critical thinking, engagement, and interaction; in addition, a correlational analysis found that these factors are highly interrelated. This case study proposes recommendations for practitioners interested in using a similar approach.

scholarly journals Applying Authentic Learning through Cultivation of the Entrepreneurial Mindset in the Engineering Classroom

2018 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
pp. 7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Bosman ◽  
Stephanie Fernhaber
Keyword(s):  
Student Perceptions ◽  
Engineering Students ◽  
Online Discussion ◽  
Learning Experiences ◽  
Authentic Learning ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Learn By Doing ◽  
Limited Opportunity ◽  
Authentic Learning Experiences ◽  
Engineering Classroom

Higher education provides plenty of opportunity for theory and in many cases, even the ability to apply theory in a laboratory setting. Yet, there remains limited opportunity for students to learn by doing through participation in authentic learning experiences. The purpose of this paper is to provide one potential solution for integrating authentic learning into the engineering classroom by cultivating the entrepreneurial mindset. As entrepreneurship serves as an integral part of the economy, developing an entrepreneurial mindset through authentic learning experiences is essential for engineers. While online discussion prompts represent a useful way for educators to facilitate student learning, less is known about how to facilitate online discussions in a way that truly cultivates an entrepreneurial mindset for engineering students. In this paper, the key intentions of entrepreneurially-minded learning are reviewed, and a guide for creating online discussions applicable to any engineering course is presented. Example online discussion prompts incorporating the entrepreneurial mindset are then shared from an Introduction to Engineering course. Results from a mixed methods survey instrument suggests positive impacts towards student perceptions of online discussions and development of the entrepreneurial mindset. Recommendations for effectively and efficiently facilitating online discussions for entrepreneurially-minded learning in the engineering classroom are offered.

scholarly journals Using the Photovoice Method to Elicit Authentic Learning in Online Discussions

2018 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 125-138
Author(s):  
Beatriz M Reyes-Foster ◽  
Aimee DeNoyelles
Keyword(s):  
Critical Thinking ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Research Method ◽  
Online Discussion ◽  
Authentic Learning ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Course Content ◽  
College Classrooms ◽  
Points Of View

While online discussions remain popular in college classrooms, mixed results persist about their effectiveness in eliciting authentic learning. This case study explores how students perceive the influence of the Photovoice method on their authentic learning, critical thinking, engagement, and peer interaction in an asynchronous online discussion. Photovoice is a research method combining photography with social action, in which people express their points of view by photographing scenes that highlight certain themes. Students in an online undergraduate course engaged in an online discussion which asked them to connect personal images to the course content. Students reported that this strategy supported authentic learning, critical thinking, engagement, and interaction; in addition, a correlational analysis found that these factors are highly interrelated. This case study proposes recommendations for practitioners interested in using a similar approach.

CASE STUDY OF ONLINE DISCUSSION BOARD USE IN AN ENGINEERING EDUCATION GRADUATE COURSE

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexandra Davidson ◽  
Lisa Romkey ◽  
Allison Van Beek
Keyword(s):  
Engineering Education ◽  
Online Discussion ◽  
Discussion Board ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Asynchronous Learning ◽  
Discussion Boards ◽  
Graduate Course ◽  
Post Secondary ◽  
Online Discussion Board

Due to the increasing prevalence of asynchronous learning platforms, the development and implementation of online discussion boards have become important considerations in the design of post-secondary learning environments. This research is conducted as a case study of the online discussion board use in a small engineering education graduate course, consisting of in-class and online discussion components. By varying the structure of the online discussion board to allow different types of student interaction, the study identifies trends in discussion board use, specifically pertaining to student participation, student collaboration, and the integration between in-class and online discussions. As a result, the study provides insight into the utility and limitations of online discussion boards in post-secondary courses.  

scholarly journals Impact of using learning analytics in asynchronous online discussions in higher education

2020 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Juan Pedro Cerro Martínez ◽  
Montse Guitert Catasús ◽  
Teresa Romeu Fontanillas
Keyword(s):  
Learning Analytics ◽  
Participatory Design ◽  
Online Discussion ◽  
Learning Processes ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Communication Process ◽  
Control Groups ◽  
Implementation Phase ◽  
Design Based Research ◽  
Asynchronous Online Discussions

Abstract Following asynchronous online discussion activities as a complex communication process is a demanding task for teachers. In this paper, the authors have explored the potential in supporting such activity through learning analytics. From the beginning, the authors acknowledged the limitations of technology to support the complexities of a pedagogical activity. Therefore, the methodology used was participatory design-based research (DBR) divided into two main stages. The first design phase dealt with the engagement of teachers and pedagogical experts in defining the data and metrics to be used to support the pedagogical concepts. The second consisted of an implementation phase including pilots with students and with crucial engagement of teachers in commenting their understanding over students’ learning processes and the feedback the teachers could offer to them. Overall, the students shown improvements in their performance as monitored through the learning analytics group in contrast with control groups. The discussion over the design and its results could be potentially extrapolated to other educational contexts.

scholarly journals Using Design-Based Research to Develop Meaningful Online Discussions in Undergraduate Field Experience Courses

2017 ◽  
Vol 18 (6) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Johnson ◽  
Laurie Hill ◽  
Jennifer Lock ◽  
Noha Altowairiki ◽  
Christopher Ostrowski ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Deep Learning ◽  
Organizational Design ◽  
Field Experience ◽  
Online Discussion ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Task Completion ◽  
Discussion Forums ◽  
Design Based Research ◽  
Online Discussion Forums ◽  
Group Structures

<p class="3">From a design perspective, the intentionality of students to engage in surface or deep learning is often experienced through prescribed activities and learning tasks. Educators understand that meaningful learning can be furthered through the structural and organizational design of the online environment that motivates the student towards task completion. However, learning engagement is unique for each student. It is dependent on both how students learn and their intentions for learning. Based on this challenge, the design of online discussions becomes a pedagogical means in developing students’ intentionality for the adoption of strategies leading to deep learning. Through a Design-Based Research (DBR) approach, iterative design of online learning components for undergraduate field experience courses were studied. For this paper, the focus of the research is on examining factors that influenced deep and surface levels of learning in online discussion forums. The results indicate that design factors (i.e., student engagement, group structures, and organization) influence the nature and degree of deep learning. From the findings, two implications for practice are shared to inform the design and scaffolding of online discussion forums to foster deep approaches to student learning.</p>

scholarly journals Adding to the mix: Students use of Facebook groups and blackboard discussion forums in higher education

2016 ◽  
pp. 444-463
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Discussion Forum ◽  
Online Discussions ◽  
Discussion Forums ◽  
Additional Material ◽  
Learning And Teaching ◽  
Sustained Activity ◽  
Learning Content ◽  
Unit Design ◽  
Teaching In Higher Education

This paper reports on a case study of the use of Facebook in learning and teaching in higher education. Facebook was used as a venue for online discussion to support the existing Learning Management System (in this case Blackboard) in the unit Internet Collaboration and Organisation as part of the Internet Communications degree taught fully online through Open Universities Australia (OUA). Students’ posts to both Facebook and the Blackboard discussion forum were analysed for content, length, and when throughout the study period they were posted. This is significant as much of the previous work in this area has relied on students self-reporting, rather than direct observation of student behaviour. These results were then compared to earlier instances of the same unit that ran within the previous twelve months, one fully online with OUA only using the Blackboard discussion group, and a second taught at Curtin University with both blended learning for students at the University’s Bentley campus as well as fully online for external students, that utilised both Blackboard and Facebook. The results show that Facebook greatly increases the level of student activity in online discussions, both absolutely and in the level of sustained activity across the unit’s study period. Facebook groups also had a different pattern of content from Blackboard. In Blackboard discussion is more focused on the set unit learning content, in Facebook students were using the groups to discuss administration and assignments and also bring in additional material from outside the units set learning materials. Facebook posts, while more sustained over the semester, were shorter in length. This study found that the addition of a Facebook discussion forum does not noticeably impact on the use of Blackboard’s discussion forum, but rather adds a new dimension to the mix of online interaction. The paper concludes that there is value in using both of these forums for student interaction, but unit design needs to take into account the different affordances of each to maximise their utility.

scholarly journals Students as Designers of E-book for Authentic Assessment

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 23
Author(s):  
Raja Maznah Raja Hussain ◽  
Khalid Khamis Al Saadi
Keyword(s):  
English Language ◽  
Methodological Approach ◽  
Authentic Assessment ◽  
English Language Teaching ◽  
Postgraduate Students ◽  
Face To Face ◽  
Authentic Assessments ◽  
Peer Reviewers ◽  
Collaborative Learning Environment ◽  
Positive Experiences

Purpose â€“ The purpose of this study is to examine the elements that determine students’ success as designers of an e-book by means of an authentic assessment in a collaborative learning environment. A total of 11 English Language Teaching (ELT) postgraduate students were involved as designers, writers and peer reviewers of the e-book project. Methodology â€“ Data was gathered based on a qualitative methodological approach, via face-to-face discussions, WhatsApp groups, Moodle classes and reflections from students’ e-portfolios. The data was analyzed using content analysis procedures where it was read carefully to understand emerging themes. It was then coded and labeled manually in relation to the aims of the study and its theoretical framework. Findings â€“ The analysis suggested that the students had positive experiences where they became self-publishers while engaged in designing learning experiences via integrating technology. The use of authentic assessments enabled them to develop teamwork, to become motivated and self-directed learners with autonomy. Significance â€“ The outcome of this research will help course designers and program developers to integrate authentic assessments that are relevant to the current needs of students. 

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