Guiding a course about such a huge topic requires multiple assessment tools along the route, but a key tool in my kit is the Self-reflection Essay, making use of meta cognition. This reflective essay would require students to describe the process they went through as individuals and as "scientist teams" to learn about the Galapagos Islands: it's history, flora and fauna, what governmental/national practices are currently in place for sustaining the biodiversity that exists in the Galapagos--critiquing those practices for evidence of viability, then describing the new plan they, as "scientists", developed for sustaining biodiversity in the Galapagos. Writing and publishing this paper is much like what real-world scientists do when they publish their findings and present them in a scientific journal or at a conference of colleagues. In order to create such a document, student scientists need to keep "field notes" (much like a diary) along the way. These notes would also be a form of assessment, as I as instructor, would ask to see the progress of their learning through a scheduled submission of these notes for my comments, questions, and encouragement.
By no means would this essay be the sole assessment piece asked for, however, it would serve as a cornerstone of understanding as we neared the end of our class. Early on, students would be asked to formulate and publish definitions (in their own words) for biodiversity and sustainability. Research into these topics with the published definitions would then become a launching pad for delving into the rest of the course as they are key to understanding everything else.
This blog is a reflective look at my eLearning experiences in EDUC250 and EDUC251 at Bellevue College.
I really like the idea of field notes. I imagine these could be done using any medium, so your course could work flexibly with different groups. This will be such a fun learning adventure!
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