Reflective Blogging

Blogging can be used for many purposes. One effective use of blogging in the classroom is to have students record a reflective blog.

• Reflective blogs encourage "meta-thinking" and empower students to evaluate their own learning process.
• Each student has his or her own blog.
• Blogs can be private (between instructor and student), or shared (with other students or community).

Rubric Creation

Giving students real-world, authentic assignments or projects is a proven strategy for actively engaging students in the learning process. These types of activities are often evaluated using a rubric.

• Rubrics can be powerful tools for:
  • Clearly explaining to students the expectations for their work.
  • Helping a student self-assess his or her own efforts.
• Rubrics are simple, but can be difficult to create.
• RubiStar is one of the most popular and easiest to use tools for creating rubrics.

Online Surveys

• Online surveys can be used for a variety of purposes:
  • Pre-assessemnt of student skills.
  • Informal feedback on teaching performance.
  • Research tool to gather data.
• Many Learning Management Systems (LMS) include surveys as an option.
• There are several online tools available:
  • Free when they are used with a small number of participants.
  • Support a wide range of question types.

Online Quizzes/Tests

Online quizzes and tests can be beneficial to both instructors and students.

• Automatic grading and feedback can reduce the time spent on these tasks by instructors.
• Small-stakes quizzes can be set up that allow a student to assess his or her current level of knowledge, and feedback can direct them to appropriate learning resources.
• They are standard feature in Learning Management System (LMS). In some cases, they also:
  • May draw on test bank.
  • Present random questions and possible answers in random order.
  • Can be used to customize personalized learning for students.
• There are also other online tools available.

Test Creation

There are also other tools that can be used to create tests.

• Tools such as Respondus make it easy to create online tests from existing word processing files.
• Publishers often include tests in course packs that can be imported into an LMS.

Plagiarism Detection

Plagiarism is a major issue on many campuses.

• Work is submitted electronically by students and verified against global or institutional databases.
• The service is using purchased as a campus-wide license and integrated into the LMS. Examples include SafeAssign and TurnItIn.
• TurnItIn does offer an independent service for students, WriteCheck.

ePortfolios

For accreditation and certification, many academic fields require proof of student performance in the form of a portfolio. ePortfolios provide these benefits:

• Easily accessible by students, instructors, and third-party reviewers.
• Support students throughout degree program.
• In many cases, can be used by student after graduation to showcase potential to prospective employers.
• Options for purchasing vary widely from vendor to vendor.

Online Course Evaluations

Online Course Evaluations are specialized survey applications designed for mid-term or end-of-term course evaluations.

• Allow for easy set up based on current student enrollment.
• Customized reporting by instructor, department and school.
• Can be used to support a faculty member's request for tenure.