Week Six--Variations on the Theme

I. The reading for this week in GMIT 660 was Chapter Seven (Variations on the Theme) from our text Introduction to Rubrics--highlights from the chapter:

• In some disciplines, such as the fine arts and sciences, rubrics related to regular, hands-on, lab or studio activities may require some flexibility in how scales, dimensions, and descriptions of dimensions are conceived or arranged.
• "Staged" rubrics, as one might guess from the name, are used for assignments in which process is at least as important as the final product.
• Staged rubrics are used and reused at different times to assess different stages of a student's work, thus allwoing us to monitor the student's work as it progresses.
• Staged rubrics are usually used for large projects that might take a whole term or certainly several weeks to complete.
• "Multiple" rubrics are more common to program assessment than to grading, but we do occasionally use them for grading complex, multifaceted assignments like an end-of-term portfolio or a full ad campaign designed over the course of a semester.

II. Fellow cohort, Kathy Zabel, led the seminar for GMIT 660 this week--two of her proposed questions:

Question #1

A variation in theme using rubrics would be to assess something that is very difficult to assess and that is ICP. In my line of work that stands for intracranial pressure. In this text, it stands for in-class participation.
Many instructors like to give points or credit for in-class participation. How do you supposed that is graded? Do the instructors who use ICP for part of the grade use a rubric to come up with the points for their students? Figure 7.3 (p. 99) in Introduction to Rubrics has an example of a rubric used to evaluate ICP. Take a look at the descriptions of the dimensions used to assess ICP in the rubric. Do they make sense? What other dimensions would you add or is it even necessary to use a rubric for assessing something such as in-class participation?

Lots of great discussion on this question--many different thoughts and ideas on in-class participation. Some felt that there is room for ICP in rubrics--some felt ICP should be simplified--either you participated or you didn't. Grading should be mostly for assignments or quizzes, according to some--according to others, ICP was a sizable part of the students' grades.

Question #2

Multiple Rubric- These rubrics can be used for program assessment and consist of several rubrics. In fact, each dimension has its own rubric.
The appendix at the back of your text has examples of 5 rubrics beginning on p. 121 used to assess learning goals in the University Studies Program at Portland State University. Look at them and take a moment to be overwhelmed. Now here is your question. You are on the assessment team at your college. Each program (Radiography, IT, Early Childhood Education, Medical Assisting, Media, Continuing Education, Fire Science, etc.) must assess themselves on a yearly basis. You would like the team to consider the use of rubrics for the individual programs. Each program would have the same basic format of rubric with some modifications for program differences. Let’s hear your explanation to the assessment team of why your college programs should use rubrics for assessing their programs. Describe some of the dimensions that might be included in the program rubric.

Wow! Great discussion here on using rubrics in individual programs! Lots of great examples from the different programs represented! We have learned a great deal about rubrics in this coursework--we are truly going to another level in this program!

Kathy did a wonderful job leading this seminar! She provided a great deal of material for all of us and did a masterful job of keeping things going during the week! Great job, Kathy!

III. In response to the "reflections" of the seminar:

• Kathy engaged us all by good resources and questions she provided! I think she has set the bar really high for us!
• The discussions in the seminar were very lively and good learning and sharing took place.
• I feel the need to keep my textbooks and refer back to them often to review what we have learned as I go on in my teaching career!
• I felt that I participated at a graduate level again this week--we are nearing the end and are feeling the pressure to perform, but we keep answering the bell!
• Again, the seminar experience this term will be invaluable to us as we go on in our careers--we will think back to these for a long time to come!

Week Six--Promoting Autonomy and Self-Direction

I. The reading for this week--Chapter 6 (Promoting Autonomy and Self-Direction) from our text Learning and Change in the Adult Years, with highlights from the chapter:

• The idea of autonomous or self-directed learning is firmly entrenched in contemporary thinking about adult education, and there has been a great deal of scholarly interest in the subject.
• The autonomous person has three qualities: freedom of choice, rational reflection, and strength of will.
• Self-direction in learning embraces four distinct phenomena: personal autonomy, the willingness and capacity to manage one's own learning, an environment allowing some effective control by the learner, and the independent pursuit of learning without formal institutional suport or affiliation.
• Learners at different stages of ego development have different assumptions (and therefore expectations) about the purpose and potentail of education, different capacities to frame educational goals, and different interpretations of the meaning of educational experiences.
• Education is inextricably bound up with developmental change, and teaching practices need to take into account the developmental capacity and potential of learners.
• The development of reflective skills, that is, the ability to select from and problematize experience, is considered the key to learning from experience.
• Practical intelligence is largely domain specific while reflective judgment is considered a generic capacity--while the problems being thought about are ill-structured they remain context free and therefore the language used to analyze them is more abstract and academic.
• There are four categories of skills that a competent learner should possess: 1) Flexible application of a well-organized, domain specific knowledge base; 2) Heuristic methods; 3) Metacognitive skills; 4) Learning strategies.
• The hallmark of the autonomous learner is the person who has developed a critical capacity in a particular subject area.
• The challenge for adult educators is to promote situated autonomy in the context of their own work.
• "A learning need is the gap between where you are now and where you want to be in regard to a particular set of competencies" (Knowles, 1978).

II. Fellow cohort, Francine Oran led the seminar again this week--two of her proposed questions:

Question #1

Weathersby talks about the education ego stages starting on page 24.
Weathersby argues that teachers need to understand how the ego stage influences the learners' responses to educational intervention (p. 125).
Do you agree or disagree with this way of thinking. Explain.

The participants did some real good sharing on this question--most agreed that "ego stage" does influence the learners to a degree. Where the student is in his or her educational adventures, and what background they have plays out in current education.

Question #2

According to the textbook, there have been many attempts to identify the characteristics of the autonomous or self-directed learner and the role of the teacher in promoting such a learner (p. 131-132).
Knowles (1978) states that the role of the teacher is to assist students to "learn how to learn" (p. 132). I thought that was an interesting phrase. What do you think about his statement? Explain.
Knowles also talks about forming learning contracts on pages 145-146. This reminds me of some of the readings that we had from two quarters ago. Does this make sense to you and why?

Great discussion here, also--most agreed that the role of the teacher is to assist students to "learn how to learn." It just makes sense--if the students don't know how to learn well enough to do the assignments properly, it is the teacher's responsibility to show them how. Just like a mother robin showing little ones how to fly--if they aren't learning right, she keeps on trying!

Francine also provided some very good websites and scholarly articles for the cohorts to read and share on! My favorite was the tennessee.edu p'pt website!

III. My reflections in relation to the "Reflecting on the Seminar" questions:

• I did feel very engaged by Fran's questions and provided resources. She really did some good research and provided good material for us to reflect on, share ideas, and discuss!
• I learned some new terms like "ego stage" and "learning contracts" this week!
• Hopefully, some of this will stay with me during my career!
• I do feel that I participated at a graduate level in this seminar; I shared with the cohorts and tried to keep the discussions going in a productive way.
• The seminars are still proving to be a great learning experience for us all, even if we do disagree on occasion.
• The seminars are a great educational tool--we hope to continue our learning and sharing on an SCC wikki website one of our cohorts, Jessie, created!