Assessment in eLearning - Module 3 Reflection

Dr. Bonk's article about the Perfect "E" Storm was very applicable to this week at least for me.  I am not sure I have ever been this confused about an assignment.  The concept map really threw me for a loop.  It look until Saturday to finally figure out what I was doing.  Not happy with myself about that one.  Now that it is completed I know I have done them before but for some reason, I could not wrap my head around it this week.  I think at first I like many others confused it with the midterm.  Once this confusion subsided, I was still facing that "Perfect Storm" of confusion with now slightly diminished waves.  Thank you Jim for clarifying even further what we needed to accomplish as this cleared the storm and it was much smoother sailing home at least for me.

Regarding the reading material this week, it was slightly overwhelming with all of the information.  I realize that the main article was written over 7 years ago, but some of the information in it was new to me.  This alone added to the confusion I was experiencing this week.  What really seemed to resonate with me was the need to ensure you are actively engaging your students and having assessments which are authentic for them.  If this is not occurring, you will lose your students.  We have actually had this occur in our classroom when students have stated to us they were either playing Xbox, Playstations, Wii, or even watching TV when we were conducting our lessons online.  Since we cannot see them, they simply need to log and we "hope" they are actively engaged.  Well, we learned early on that we needed to ensure our lessons contained elements to engage those learners as well as assess them.  I have to say we have been quite successful.  Also, I am glad this class had the chance to read this article and view the video.  Even though items such as this might be "old" in terms of technology, it never hurts to revisit them every once in a while.  As I said, I had not heard of some things and I consider myself pretty computer/technology savvy.  Always glad to learn something new.

Here is hoping I get my head out of whatever fog it seems to be in for understanding some of the activities we have to accomplish.  Until next week's challenges begin I shall sign out for now.