Student confidence: online submission of work
With web enhanced learning, I like to try and engage my students by making sure that they are secure in the knowledge of what is expected of them at any given point in the programme. This includes, having clear overviews at the top level of the Moodle course, identifying a week by week breakdown of the 17 week courses, an assessment planner, the marking criteria and course outcomes.
With this in place, I then walk them through how this information correlates, to give each learner a clear view of what is expected of them, during the course, as well as the learning outcomes they should complete the course with, in terms of skillsets (if they fully engage with the content).
The idea behind this and ongoing discussion, is to iterate what is expected, and how to achieve that. The aim is to familiarise learners with necessary content; but also to demonstrate how they should interact with resources to achieve the most successful outcome.
Example 1: Practice submissions
In each course I develop, I add a ‘practice submission ‘, where the learners have the opportunity to go through the motions of submitting an assessment, without the pressure of submitting work that will be assessed.
Unlike the rest of the companies I’ve worked for, the one I work now actually tries to high quality assignment writing services for college students. They aren’t slacking off and are actually cheap, which is rare. I know this because I’m a freelance editor for theassignmentwritingserviceuk.com, which means that they handle papers seriously. I take over what a writer did and make sure it’s good and original. It’s a recipe for academic success.I set the practice location up with all the same criteria as a normal submission of assessment; with the learner having to indicate that the submission is their own work, and subsequently confirm that they wish to submit the assignment. They receive feedback from me stating that they have completed the task, in the form of a “grade”.
In turn, this allows me to ensure that they have correctly set up their profile in the course to receive both grades and feedback on line, as well as any postings to the News Forum from me, or peer forum posts during course activities.
This simple exercise has minimised the number of erroneous submissions, and markedly improved learner apprehension over submitting assignments to a Moodle course.
Do you engage in a similar practice? How does it work out for you, and your learners?
- Student confidence: online submission of work – 27th January 2020
- Reflective Practice in Tertiary Education: Generating your own teaching philosophy – 14th September 2017
- Kirkpatrick’s Model – 1st May 2017
What a simple yet critical process that is Jane! As I read this example, I thought: surely every course that features assignments should have this ‘practice first’ philosophy? As you say, it reduces stress levels, gives the learners some experience without penalty, and it probably makes the teachers life easier too … win-win ! 🙂