Week 8 Thoughts

I gave my students an opportunity for peer review - group project and F2F interview. The experience was both positive and negative despite guidelines that were provided to the entire class. Some students were very good at offering constructive criticism. Others used this as an opportunity to "get back" or "gang-up" on another student which really surprised me for junior college level students.

The students did a better job critiquing a F2F interview than working together on a group project for a grade. What I learned from this experience:
1. Not every student will feel that this process is fair and good guidelines need to be in place and reinforced by the instructor.
2. How much weight the project carried made a difference in the students' stress level in performing well and I believe it affected their assessment.
3. When situations arose, students didn't know how to react in a professional manner requiring a lot of instructor intervention.
4. Students didn't feel comfortable working as a group online and many met F2F at times of their own choosing. Cell phone communication was also heavily used.
5. Many of my students met F2F for other courses on campus. I don't know if their personal interactions away from the online environment had any effect on how they viewed my peer assessment activities.

Clarice 2/28/08 Tokyo

"Peggy" (Margaret) post a note to me on the DB which I found very interesting. It really got me thinking which is such a wonderful way to start my day.

Here's my reply to Peggy.
Thanks for you post, it got me thinking.In hindsight, this are my thoughts on how I would try to ease my students into the peer review process:

Here's my Fast Food Project Idea
1. Individual project - I would have students start with an assessment of online websites based on a rubric. In this way they are not targeting individuals, just what they see online.
2. Individual project - Many established businesses in Hawaii post their corporate goals somewhere within their establishment or online if they have a website. I would have my students elect one establishment (a fast food chain), then I would ask them to build a rubric based on these guidelines as well as other aspects of the industry they feel is important to them.
3. Group project - After they have gained some experience creating a rubric on their own, I would have them form groups of 2 or 3 and come up with a single rubric.
4. Group project - Each individual would go to McDonalds, Wendys, Burger King, etc. near their home and do a visual assessment and rate the establishment based on their group rubric.
5. Group project - I would have the group summarize their findings and critique themselves this project (I would provide them with a rubric for this).I'm typing this as I'm thinking, so please pardon me.

As for my students being aggressive - I have to always remember that the majority come from the public housing area...times have changed in my area. I should appreciate the fact that they are in school at, which is an accomplishment on their part for starters. Secondly, they will bring their social and economic backgrounds into the classroom whether it's F2F or online. Confrontation is survival of the fittest in their world and as an educator I feel I need to show them a different side to life so when they do graduate they will be able to succeed in the world that I know.

Clarice Tokyo

I just finished reviewing final draft for group paper. I think we wrote a good paper, but the experience I had with this team was excellent. I also enjoyed this week's DB topic as much as last week. Having to work on final project has kept me from the DB but I hope to catch-up starting tomorrow.

Clarice, Tokyo (3/1/08)

I am sad that these are my last two courses for this program. I have learned so much and I feel that I'm just beginning to learn some new things...like peer assessment.

My hesitation about offering peer assessment is cultural. It is very difficult to critique my peers, very un-Japanese and not the way I was brought up. Yet I am OK with receiving peer review for myself. This week's assignment in completing a peer review for another person is a difficult task for me to complete.

Clarice, Tokyo (3/2/08)

* * * * * * * Summary for Week 8 * * * * * * *

I overhead a conversation between a Japanese student and an American student over coffee. The American student was trying to explain that open discussion, opposing viewpoints, debates, etc. were OK and acceptable in American culture. I did not mean that we (Americans, American couples) don't like the person to whom we are speaking. It was just our way of sharing differing viewpoints, trying to understand new perspectives, reach a mutual conclusion and learning from this process. Very interesting coffee conversation.

I feel that I will require more training or information to feel comfortable applying peer assessment into my online course. Coming from a mixed cultural background, even I am uncomfortable discussing others actions, but I'm OK with receiving critique from others.

I am hoping the CSU MS OTL program will offer graduates workshops to brush-up on these skills sometime in the future. It is also a good way to keep our connections going.

Clarice, Tokyo (3/3/08)