So you're in a classroom with your students while they complete an assessment task. It can either be written, oral or otherwise. The students complete the requirements and submit their work to you (the teacher). You can be pretty confident that the student's work is their own, that is, it's authentic. Can the same be said of someone sitting in front of a computer a thousand miles away?
And are they really a thousand miles away? And are they who they really say they are? How many of you have joined a chatroom under a different name? Or indeed a different gender? OK, I have once about 12 years ago. Relax Ted, it really is me typing this, or not?
The fact is, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, there is absolutely NO guarantee that an online student, whether secondary, tertiary or whatever is getting any real benefit from this particular type of education. Educational outcomes are not guaranteed as there are still question marks raised over the honesty of online students and effectiveness of assessments and outcomes.
"Probably the most serious problem with online assessment is confirming that the student is in fact who they say they are". It is unfortunately impossible to completely trust and verify the authenticity of any student's online work!
So they receive a piece of paper at the end of it all...but perhaps no education...
Give me a real classroom anytime!!
Cheers,
Phil (Allegedly)
References:
http://www.articlesbase.com/online-education-articles/pros-and-cons-of-online-education-for-the-world-citizen-250687.html
http://www.westga.edu/~distance/ojdla/summer72/rowe72.html
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This is not a bad point, Phil. But I wonder if this is only a problem for the world of cyber education?
ReplyDeleteIn earlier years of university, I had tutorial presentations I had to give in person. In more recent years, however, I have generally only had to submit essays. The reality is that there is no guarantee to the university that the work has been mine. I have not had to orally defend my essays or submit drafts and I have not been required to sit exams.
So, yes, I agree authenticity is a problem but, in a tertiary setting at least, is it unique to the cyberworld?
Yes, cheating can happen anywhere I guess, however, you only refer to a university setting where the norm is to hand in essays as your final assessment. In the TAFE system and I suppose in schools there can certainly be a lot more control over the assessment procedures (i.e. supervising the students). I would also say that having met my students face to face and knowing a bit about the way they speak, act, express themselves etc. I can generally gauge whether or not the work they have submitted is in fact their own.
ReplyDeletePhil.
I think control over assessment is important if you want to use the results to monitor progress and adapt your teaching to suit the needs of your students. I have to agree with Stephen that there is never a guarantee that the work handed in is really theirs - although it is easier to physically see. I've taken to using google when i read a sentence in a piece of work that sounds a bit suspicious. In grades 5 and 6 often the text gets lifted from a web page - as teachers we can usually tell whether a piece of writing is really the author's voice or not! Typing the sentence into google often brings up the source which I can then show the student and address the issue!
ReplyDeleteI realise this is possibly more work than previously, but at least it is one way to track online use!
You raise an interesting point, how can we make sure our students work is 100% their own? We can do what Jo has mentioned however googling around 70 assignments is not practical. I do believe with what Jo has said that as teachers we get to know our students, the way they talk and write, and if they hand in an assignment which uses words that are not used in their normal vocabulary, then you may become suspicious. On my first placement a student handed in a health assignment with advanced words and names for things they hadn't even covered in class. The teacher knew it wasn't the students own work, googled it and there it was, the student had plagiarised. Of course this wouldn't happen with every student, and I suppose we'll never exactly know how much of it is their own work, but as teachers we will just have to trust our students and be mindful when reading their work.
ReplyDeleteMartine