Course Gap Analysis: Improving Access

Course Gap Analysis

I originally started this post with the plan to reflect on course evaluation as I set about to improve my online courses in terms of engagement and completion rates. However, I came to notice that the majority of the work I was doing was taking existing content and designs and adjusting or revamping. I noticed too that I was doing so in phases.

In particular, I have been working on assessment which in my courses largely means exams, which are a good starting point or foundation for summative and formative assessment opportunities. I observed several stages, the first being improving access.

Improving Access

For exams, I started off working on moving exams and items online. I took book pdfs with the questions and then I converted them to text. From there, I stripped the questions and ran them through a GIFT format converter. I then upload the GIFT files quickly into the Moodle course question banks. I created a text file with an HTML template for formatting resources, such as readings, to be included with individual items as Moodle does not have a function for grouping questions around a single resource. To be organized, I created categories in the question bank to match units and lessons identified in the text. I was not able to assigne items to outcomes so I will have to use an external exam bank tool. I assigned each question an item code using a naming convention. I have tried to do work that could be duplicated by others.

Certainly, this method does not lend itself to widespread use by teachers or developers; however, I was able to quickly put up usable items. Students online have already started completing the entry tests.

Comments

Adapting Learning with Entry Tests

Over the course of the term, I have been working to focus the work of my students, narrowing what they need to study to prepare for the Official GED Examinations. I have been using entry tests provided in the online course to create study plans. The first step is to examine the results for lessons where the student was not successful. Using performance analysis charts provided, we create a list of these lessons. Then we enter these lessons onto a 12 week chart to create a plan. With the first group of students, we completed this task, from marking to lesson listing to study planning, using the textbook and a blank study plan. I sat down with each (or discussed on the phone) their results using the provided performance analysis charts. First, we looked at the overall score to determine to what extent they would need to focus on the unit based on the cut score provided. Next we examined each item. We found the Writing Unit Entry Test straightforward with the chart pointing to the less...

Leadership Academy: Part 1

I just finished the first session of the Leadership Academy held at the Banff Centre. I saw an elk, navigated through a high speed bike race and found my way inside the Kinnear Centre for Creativity and Innovation. Certainly, you could not find a more beautiful place in the world, with the fresh air, the looming mountains and the rolling river. An excellent place to relax and think. And the participants, from Alberta, British Columbia and even Indiannapolis, are friendly and eager to share. Everyone has checked their agendas and issues at the door, so people are free to speak. Over the half of the group is from SAIT, and many of them were meeting their colleagues for the first time. The focus of the academy will be to tap the current experiences and knowledge from this group to be "transformative" through this "learner-centred approach". They have already us fill out three surveys and an learning styles inventory. They have had us moving about t...

Teaching and Learning

Teaching is both an art and a science. It calls upon us to be good. It summons us to be kind as an act of giving. It requires us to know the subject-matter, our students and ourselves. It has models and trends. It cannot be done without ever vigilant learning. It is an action that pulls and pushes us. It consumes us and fills us up. In teaching, we can shape learning but we cannot control it. Learning will happen whether we are there or not. Yet often, it cannot seem to take place without us. When we teach, we start with objectives. Students tow along working to choose and pursue their own learning goals and interests. Learning can be vast and at the same time small.It is an act both formalized and institutionalized. It happens at work among colleagues and at home with family and friends. Despite our attempts to organize it, learning is innately social, and very human. It occurs over distances and everywhere two people can be fo...

Hilgartner Open Learning

Search This Blog