Learning about assessing online learning

Creating my survey was very interesting.  I’m designing a class that I have always wanted to teach, Using Online Resources to Improve Teaching and Learning.  When I first started drafting the survey, it was full of factual stuff:  check off which of these tools you are comfortable using.   But as I got into it, I realized I’d learn much more about my students with open-ended questions (which also turned out to really be the assignment).   I ask about successful lessons and lessons teachers hate to teach, about energizing and frustrating experiences with technology, and ultimately about what the student hopes to take away from the class. 

Even though I had drafted the survey and revised it several times, once I was in Zoomerang, I found myself modifying the questions, and even completely changing them.  After I previewed the survey, I went back and changed it further.  Zoomerang limits its free survey to 10 questions, but since they’re mostly open-ended (in essence “essay questions”), I guess that’s plenty!

I think this will be a good tool for my own students at school (and they do love to give their opinions).

Click on the picture to see a larger version.

Can I write next to this?  I guess I can.  I tried using Inspiration in the past, but I just couldn’t “get” it.  I guess I’m more word-oriented than graphics oriented.  I can definitely see how some of my students would enjoy using a mind-mapping tool such as this. 

This tool also helped me visualize that this process is cyclical.  Take a problem, find resources to address it, evaluate them, implement, evaluate, and then take another problem. 

I’m still having difficulty with adding a picture to the blog.  Just not intuitive to me yet.  But I realized the text was just too small, so went back and made the text bigger (discovered I could use Edit Select All, and then change the font size all at once), and added the newer concept map.