A Question about Process, Methodology or What?

A Question about Process, Methodology or What?

by Art Lader -
Number of replies: 7

Hello, fellow Moodlers,

Maybe you can help me do something a little better next year in my high school German classes...

It seems to me that it is a good thing to encourage my German students to critically (in the best sense of the word) evaluate each others' writing, asking constructive questions, making helpful suggestions, etc. I guess this is simply an article of faith with me, as I do not even know why I think it is a good thing, frankly. I just do.

Over and over again, I am finding that my second-year students cannot do this very well, and I really do not seem to be able to help them improve at it very much. (Most of the students really do seem to be willing to try, though. I have to give them credit for that.)

The problem is that many of the students simply do not seem up to the task. Their German is just not that good yet and they are overwhelmed by the assignment.

Of course, if I guide them through the assignment, they can do it pretty well, but the point is for them to be able to do it without me, right?

How do you all approach this? How do you help students who are not terribly strong help each other?

Or is this simply asking too much, too early?

Thanks,
Art

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In reply to Art Lader

Re: A Question about Process, Methodology or What?

by Dennis Daniels -
Have you tried workshops?

Something I'm trying to get my students to do is write comprehension questions about their papers... after you finish reading my essay/ piece you should be able to answer these (3 -5) questions: (Student question go here)

I've put together a whole set of quiz questions for critcal thinking and informal fallacies... if you want those you, and anyone else for that matter, can have them.

best of luck!
Dennis
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Re: A Question about Process, Methodology or What?

by Ger Tielemans -
Use Rubrics?
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Re: A Question about Process, Methodology or What?

by Derek Gaudet -

Sorry to have come into this forum so late, but I have just stumbled onto Moodle recently while doing research for my PhD.

I think that you have a good idea here to use rubrics, but there are a number of considerations to take into account.

A major issue with rubrics is the fact that they can run counter to constructivist philosophy. A good rubric will tell a student exactly what is expected in a "quality" response. However, once the student knows what is expected, the danger is that the student will then simply try to give the teacher what she/he thinks the teacher wants and not what they are really constructing as their own knowledge.

On the other hand, rubrics can be very effective in getting weaker students on track and giving stronger students guidance as they progress. Once all class members are aware of the expectations and comfortable with the process, they can be given more freedom.

How this all works with language development can be tricky. The real strength of Moodle seems to be that the students can learn in a more fluid, less structured environment. I would think that the teacher would be looking for the students to be engaging and communicating with each other outside of the normal class time. How do you assess the fluidity of this?

Perhaps a looser guideline rather than a rubric may be useful. Maybe a 4-6 point rating on how often students access and contribute to other student's work and discussions. In language you want the student to do things "right", but you are also looking for quantity of using the language. Hopefully, considering social constructivist philosophy, the more opportunties the student has to communicate with others and to share (artifacts) with others, the better their understanding and use of the language will become.

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Re: A Question about Process, Methodology or What?

by Ger Tielemans -
Or give them a guideline and organise a forum around a text? (use D3E, free source from British OU, or patch like we did the forum of Moodle to get the same visual result, so that you have the text on the left and the forum on the right?)
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In reply to Art Lader

Re: A Question about Process, Methodology or What?

by Lesli Smith -
Art,

As I read your request, I thought this might make an excellent wiki collaboration at facultyroom.org. I have a number of standard peer assessments that I've been tweaking as I go over the years; it's definitely a process. I tend to be a linear thinker, but I'm better if I can pound out ideas in discussion. It strikes me that the revisions coming to the workshop/assignment/exercise modules in 1.5 will allow for unprecedented collaboration among our students. It would be great to pound out some templates in FR first, don't you think? I know that language teachers have some concerns that I face only when I have ESL students, but the number of areas that we have in common far outnumber these differences. Plus, having understood English MUCH better once I started taking Spanish, I'm a firm believer in cross-referencing languages* to teach grammar anyway. smile

What do you say--should we start a new wiki? Do you think Mary might be interested in such an endeavor?

Lesli

P.S. Dennis--not sure you have dropped by the FR yet, but if you haven't, please visit us. You have elsewhere dubbed yourself something like, "the happiest English teacher in southern CA." That got my attention. Would love to hear some of your wisdom for managing a class with everyone on laptops. big grin

P.S. 2 *Interesting. I did not capitalize "languages," but the cross-reference link that appears when I post insists upon capitalizing it. That's okay, though. It fits the idea of Kristeva's "la langue" (sp?) better that way. smile
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In reply to Art Lader

Re: A Question about Process, Methodology or What?

by Derek Gaudet -

Another approach may be to create smaller assignments for the students to work on. If you are having trouble with weaker students who are not up to the task, perhaps changing the task is a better solution. That way they can work up to successfully completing the harder, more challenging assignments. Or break the assignments into smaller more manageable pieces. So a more advanced student can work through and be challenged by the overall assignment, while the weaker student can work through pieces at a time and end up in the same place as the stronger student.

Just a thought.

Derek

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Re: A Question about Process, Methodology or What?

by John Blake -
This works for my students. I would like to see how other teachers actually do this in Moodle teach science in an alternative school- grades 6-12. However, basic science concepts are basic concepts. In this I mean, parts of the cell, photosynthesis, energy flow, food webs, are all pretty much the same. Exactly how these concepts are broken down and how assignments are evaluated is the part that takes the time for teachers to create from scratch. How do others using Moodle create a discussion on parts of a cell? I need some concrete examples. shy
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