Class This Week - Designing Performance Based Assessment 2

Hi Folks

How time flies! We are at the end of November and heading into December, the festive period. For this week, Dennis wil continue with you on assessing performance based assessments (PB). One main reason for us placing a fair bit of emphasis on PBA is that it is one of the best forms of authentic assessments. Designing a task is one challenge, assessing it is even harder! So this week we will look at rubrics and checklists. This week's class will again be at T4A21 on Wed/Thur at 2p.m. Just a friendly reminder that you will need as part of your portfolio to design a PBA and show its assessment criteria. So now is a good time to think about your design and ask Dennis or me if you need further clarification! Cheers!

As part of our rebranding efforts, we will soon have a totally new look for our blog. It will be upsized, supersized with new features, articles and all round Teaching and Learning information. We will also be approaching you all soon to write guest articles for us! It will be called the Educator and it will be launched soon by the EDU publicity com. I will let you know soon when we will be shifting to the new site! Until then, stay sane and I look forward to meeting you all soon!

Article of The Week - SingTeach Newsletter

Hi Folks

This is the last edition of SingTeach for the year. You may find this month's topics interesting. Pleasant reading!

Click HERE to download full newsletter. OR click the individual links below to access specific articles!

>> What’s the best teaching style for cultivating creativity? Learn more

>> Evidence or experience - which informs your teaching? Read on

>> How does asking good math questions make a difference? Find out more

>> How can you help your students become confident speakers? Get tips

>> What is the matter with common-sense answers? What research shows

SingTeach is an online magazine for teachers published by the National Institute of Education, Singapore. For more teaching tips and ideas, visit their website at http://singteach.nie.edu.sg

Class This Week - Designing Performance Based Assessment 1

Hi Folks

I hope you are enjoying your well deserved break. This week's class is on "Designing Performance Based Assessment 1" and will be taken by Dennis. This is a part 1 of a two part course. This is impt as you will need to complete part 1 and 2 to get a full idea of how to design and assess a performance based assessment. There is a also an assignment which you need to complete as part of your portfolio submission and this workshop will help you do that. Have fun with Dennis!

As usual, the class will be held on Wed/Thur and will begin at 2p.m. at T4A21.

Cheers!!

U Tube - Thought for the Week

Hi Folks

I know many of us go to Youtube quite a fair bit to look for content for our classes. In the unday Times today, there is a whole article dedicated to Universities now putting up chunks of the courses and even whole modules online for people to view. Even our NUS has jumped on the bandwagon. It costs MIT almost USD 100k just to upload and some detractors claim that such videos do not really help in the learning process as it is mainly passive. I'll leave you to decide that one. Here are some links to these channels. Have fun and who know what you can find for your students.

http://www.youtube.com/education?b=400

http://academicearth.org/

http://uc.princeton.edu/main/

Workshop for This Week

Hi Folks

Hope you had a good weekend. This week's class "Questioning to Promote Learning" is F2F and it will be at T4A21 on Wed/Thurs at 2p.m. I will need you to bring your laptop as we will be working on a Web 2.0 tool.

Also, last week's class "Developing eActivities for Collaboration" will be closing soon. Do let me know if you need more time. Also, if you have completed the activity and already deployed the discussion forum, please do let me know so I can take clear you for the week! Thanks and see you on Wed / Thurs. *Dont forget the laptop!

Online Workshop for this Week - Developing eActivities for Collaboration

Hi Folks

Okay, here is how you access the online workshop for this week. I will need you to follow the instructions carefully. For this final activity, I will need you to create and use a discussion board with your students in any class you desire. You can then send me screen shots of the discussion forum or enrol me into your module to have a look. I will accept it if you do the discussion forum / board activity in class as part of a lesson or as part of homework. Either way is okay with me. Okay to access the workshop, do the following:

STep 1 - Log into Blackboard. You must do this.

STep 2 - Copy and paste the following link into your web browser. A presentation will launch. IGNORE Number 4 - Activities.

http://esp.sp.edu.sg/courses/1/ESD026/content/_1077244_1/dir_!646576656c6f70696e6720652d6163746976697469657320666f7220636f6c6c61626f726174696f6e.zip/player.html

Step 3 - Read the guides on setting up a discussion board and how to start and reply on a thread. You must be logged on to BB to access this.

How to set up a discussion board. Click HERE

How to create a new thread and reply to one. Click HERE

PS - We are revamping this so if its a bit cranky I do apologise for the inconvenience. Pls feel free to email me if you need any help!

You have till the 17th of November to complete this!

Workshops This Week

Hello Folks

For those of you who participated in the "Principles of Assessment" Online Workshop, you will have received a email confirmation from me regarding your status. If you have not finished, you still have some time to finish it up. Drop me a line if you need clarification.

This week, there are TWO sessions running concurrently. The first is the ONLINE workshop "Developing eActivities for Collaboration". Instructions on how to access the course will be made available on Tuesday on this blog. Do not come to class!

Also, those of you ho attended Action Research Fundamentals Part 1 last week, dont forget part 2 is this week n(Wed/Thurs) at T4A21 at 2p.m. My colleague Huei Wuan will be taking you through part 2.

I hope you had a restful weekend and I look forward to meeting all of you soon!

PS- Drop me an email if you need clarification!

PSS - We will be changing our look soon. Keep a look out for the new blog about to be launched soon!

Article of the Week

Hi Folks, this week, I thought I'll share with you something from NIE, their bi monthly newsletter, SingTeach. I found this article thought provoking "Are today’s teachers ready for tomorrow’s classrooms?"

Have a read and I would be interested to know what you think! Click the link below to access the article and other interesting ones!

SingTeach - Click HERE to access the newsletter

Workshop This Week - Online + Action Research Fundamentals

Hi Folks

I hope you had a great weekend! This week's class is ONLINE! and for those doing Action Research Fundamentals, it is Face to Face! Yipeee!! I can hear the cheers all the way from Pasir Ris! Hahhaha. Anyway, you will need to go through the material on Principles of Assessment and complete ALL 5 mini activities for me to take your attendance for this workshop. The workshop will be open till the 10th of November 2009 2359. Do let me know if you need an extension. You will need an internet connection to access the course.

To access the course, please do the following:

1) Log onto Blackboard at http://esp.sp.edu.sg (PS, you must do this step!)

2) Copy and paste or click the following ink into your web browser address bar.

http://esp.sp.edu.sg/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_43913_1&content_id=_1075707_1

3) Click on the link that says "assessing-learning.zip" You can then access the materials. Let me know if you encounter any technical difficulties. Have fun!

* For those of you doing Action Research Fundamentals, it is a Face to Face class and it will be at T4A21 at 2p.m. You will need to bring your laptop to the class!