Assessments

SurveyMonkey.com
I am a huge fan of SurveyMonkey.com as I like the open-ended format that is available. In several other survey/quiz options I've used, the open-ended answer wasn't a possibility. I can see multiple uses for SurveyMonkey in my classes between the open-ended answer option and the analysis that is available for the results.

Journalism Classes
I really found a lot of value in looking at the two very distinct units concerning journalism. For a class that would seem to need a f2f environment, there are a plethora of activities that can be done completely independently and online. I really enjoyed finding ways to take Casey's class into the online environment.

Feedback
I've really enjoyed reading the feedback that everyone is providing to each other. Even when the feedback isn't for me, the ideas are ones that I can use and incorporate in my own course creations. The activities and feedback have provided me with some great options for my final project. I am slowly getting my project ready to go. I'm starting with an anticipation guide for my students. I will also be using a webquest that I've created. I plan on completing a taxonomy chart for my project. I have the beginnings ready to go and want to spend some time this weekend getting the project ready to go.

Thanks,
Mrs. Meyer

Journalism Taxonomy Table

The table included is an example of a journalism class's activities divided into Bloom's levels. I really believe that Bloom's Taxonomy is an excellent way to create questions and activities for any class.

Thanks,
Mrs. Meyer

Bloom's Taxonomy-Oct 7-13, 2007

I love working with Bloom's Taxonomy because I believe that the support for creating questions is unbelievable. Some people don't understand that creating ten good questions is a difficult process that requires a lot of thought. I currently create three-four questions for every chapter that my students are reading in their novels. I try to start at the knowledge level of Bloom's with the first question and move up the scale by the time the third question is asked so that they have to decide what they think.

I really enjoyed creating the table from Casey's journalism class because it allowed me to think about how the questions are worded and what I could do for my final project. I will add my taxonomy table from the journalism class here before I post.

For my online class, I am going to work with the Holocaust. I already have a webquest that needs some updates that will help me meet some of the requirements. Because I already have part of this created, I may double up and create two possible courses with the other being about disabilities. This way, both of my current reading classes could try this process out for me yet this school year.

I'm going to be honest, after working so closely last week with Sandra and Heather, I've missed some of that constant communication this week. It would have been hard to fit it in because our readings and work were pretty extensive as matching Bloom's is difficult, but I did miss the feedback. Maybe for the final project, we can have some sort of review partner to help along the way?

Thanks,
Mrs. Meyer

Collaborative Learning

During my Online Assessment class this week, myself and two classmates created a midterm project together. I enjoyed how the project was set up as we each had a part to do that was different from the other students in the group.

I chose to work with SurveyMonkey.com for my portion of the midterm. I'm extremely impressed with this survey and quiz creation tool especially considering that a basic account is offered for free. One of the biggest advantages I found with SurveyMonkey is that the questions come in multiple formats and various answers can be used. This is one of the few systems I have found that allow this to happen. I also really liked how the responses can be gathered and analyzed as a group. If I have fifty people take the quiz and answer differently to question one, I will have an analysis that shows fifty answers to question one. This alone makes this my site of choice for surveys and quizzes. I'm hoping to use this in my class to create anticipation guides that my students can take. I would also like to create individual biography quizzes to gauge my students' interests in this sort of assessment.

My group had a good handle on technology as we started our project with a wiki immediately. One of the group members started the wiki and posted the assignment right in it, so we were all able to work there without the need of another document. Overall, I wouldn't recommend this sort of assignment all the time because it is difficult to work out common times with a schedule, but I do believe that this sort of activity is very valuable once or twice in the class.

If you go to the following link, you can view my group's project on my website. My part was the SurveyMonkey section. Click http://lmeyer.iowapages.org below. Go to Mrs. Meyer's Online Classroom and click on the link for Creating Communities to view our project.

Thanks,
Mrs. Meyer
Reading