Peer Evaluation Process

This week I was able to evaluate my peer, Amy's work on her design so far. I used the template that was provided to us and found it very useful. I was able to make minor comments on how I believe she could possibly improve her design.

Through the wikis, I was also able to make positive comments about how well she had done and I believe this would have been a positive experience for her because it was encouraging to her.

I really appreciated receiving positive comments about my design as well from Kelvin. I know he was under a bit of pressure because he had a bit of catching up but he took the time to do it for me and it really helped. Through this process, I was able to make minor changes over time to improve my work.

Thanks Team!

Reflection: Online Peer Assessment

This week I read the article by Lu and Law on the moodle site in regards to Online Peer Assessment. It identified how teachers often consider Peer Grading and Peer feedback to be the same thing. Before reading the article, I had a hard time identifying the main difference as well. By the end, I understood that peer grading and peer feedback are two forms of peer assessment and they both have different outcomes.

Peer Grading-

Studies have shown that this process is valid and is a reliable approach. It involves applying criteria to certain grades in the form of assessment rubrics.
Assessment rubrics focus on what is important in the assignment and enhances students understanding of the topic.
The process of peer grading on students have been minimally researched even though it is effectively wide-used in Universities.  It can be a time-consuming process but it can be beneficial because it encourages students to think critically.

Peer Feedback-

Through reports, researchers argue that peer feedback has a more positive effect on students learning compared to peer grading.  This is because it allows peers to reflect on their strengths and weaknesses and give constructive feedback on how to improve their work.
Researchers argue that this process can be done through stages which make it time efficient and it is therefore less threatening to students.

Evaluation-
Overall, the peer grading process actually allows assessors to review their own performance on the class and the opportunity to improve their understanding of the rubric.  Peer feedback evaluates the work of others through positive comments which will significantly effect the quality of project learning outcomes.

My Pedagogy-

I personally can see the benefits of using both forms of peer assessment and would try to use them both in the classroom. The reason I say this is because I love the idea of how peer grading allows me to see where I can improve rubrics and the way I teach in the classroom. Peer grading does allow for more bullying and a less positive approach in the classroom so I would definitely limit how much I used it. 

At the start of this course I was very anti "Group work" because of past bad experiences I have had. Over the past few weeks though, I have noticed the benefits of using peer feedback. I have been blessed with an awesome group that has positively offered me suggestions and tips but also congratulating me on the hard work that I have put into my design process. 

So when I will be teaching students, peer feedback will be a vital tool for me and I will explain to my students how it will give them confidence in their work and how it can help with critiquing their future work.

Reference-

Lu, J., Law, N. (2011). Online peer assessment: effects of cognitive and affective feedback. Springer Science & Business Media B.V. Retrieved from 
http://ehis.ebscohost.com.ezproxy.cqu.edu.au/eds/pdfviewer/pdfviewer?sid=c62a6531-8289-459a-b4ff-98ef53a082c0%40sessionmgr110&vid=1&hid=117

Reflection: Futures approach to Design Technologies

A more in depth explanation of a futures approach was introduced to us this week and after watching the video by Leyla Acaroglu last week (which was quite overwhelming), I found myself relax a little more his week after reading some materials and watching the videos on moodle.

I found Wendy Fasso's points on Moddle to be quite helpful in seeing the breakdown of how we can take a futures approach:

From the breakdown shown above, it helped me realise the repercussions on society that could happen if we do not take a futures approach. We need to think about the effect the product will have on all the stakeholders involved as well as the immediate self and community.

When teaching my students, I would try to give them lots of everyday examples like Leyla gave in her TED talk. Leyla used a lot of detail in her explanation so to explain that to younger children, I would try to use lots of visuals to explain it to them (this is what I found helpful myself).

Sustainability is such a big factor in today's society so I would make it my mission to make sure every student was aware of that and help them to brainstorm ideas of how we could create something that will still be environmentally sustainable in the future.

Week 4 Peer Evaluation Process

I am really loving how flexible and understanding our group is! We understand that we all have different commitments outside of University which means our schedules don't always line up. We don't expect everyone to be online at the same time to have a group discussion but we just message each other in a group chat and respond when we get the chance.

I love how we are always encouraging each other to stay on track and stick out the last few weeks of the course. Kelvin has done a great job at getting my peer evaluation done considering he has a baby on the way and I personally have really loved looking at everyone's designs so I can get tips on how to improve my own work.

I have loved working with this group for this subject.

Reflection on my winning design

Week 4 consisted of completing my design process for my winning design which was the sustainable garden. I was really excited to post my final design to the wiki page so that I could get some thorough feedback from my peers.

Once I had finished going through the design process, I realised how valuable it can be as a tool. I was very happy with the layout and design of  my garden as were my peers. I loved how the garden I designed had many opportunities for embedding sustainable practices as well as using recycled items, allowing for parent and community input and that it was also suitable for all ages.

Reflection: Web 2.0 and classrooms

I thought this was an interesting read. I loved how the article started off by expressing why the design was important. For students to be creative, to have a degree of control over their own learning, to solve problems, to improve personal IT capability and to work cooperatively.

The reading outlined 3 beneficial factors, termed E's of web 2.0.

1. Enjoyable and exciting- Finding new ways to present ideas and share their efforts with a wide audience.

2. Energises learning- Through blogs and wikis, students can learn about IT's, computers and they can learn from each other in an exciting way. These ways allow for students to comment on each others work and give feedback.

3. Emancipatory- It is important to appreciate the potential of IT resources and keep an open mind to try new things. Technology has a huge amount of resources available to use that cannot always be found in the classroom.

Sharing ideas is a major feature of web 2.0. Collaborative processes allow for many different points of view and using online technologies allows students to express their thoughts in an enjoyable way.

The downside to using technology is internet safety. Teachers need to take the opportunity to educate students about internet safety and respect for friends, the classroom, the environment and communication.

Even though technology is still rapidly evolving and in some schools, resources are limited e.g. students have to share computers, I personally don't think it will be long before this won't be an issue in society. A lot of schools are already introducing laptops for each student in the secondary years and for the younger years, I think it is a vital skill for them to learn to work collaboratively with others so sharing computers isn't a huge issue in my opinion.

It is important for us as teachers to stay up to date with technology because it is the way of the future and students will use it a lot out of school as well. Therefor, teaching technology is a vital unit that needs to be used in the classroom.

Reference:

Younie, S., Leask, M., & Burden, K. (2015). Teaching and Learning with ICT in the Primary School (2nd ed.). Abingdon, Oxon & New York, NY: Routledge

How I will deliver the Sustainability message to my students

Wow! I was amazed at the TED talk by Layla Acaroglu but also found it very overwhelming. It placed such an importance on identifying many different ways of doing things so we can start to innovate.

I enjoyed looking at the Life-cycle thinking that Layla was talking about. I loved how she quoted that "At every stage, there is an interaction with the environment." Through her explanation, it really opened my mind up to the life-cycle process.

Because I got so much more understanding out of the Life-cycle process, it would  be something I would want to teach to my students as well. It is good for them to think about the life expectancy of the materials we use and how they will impact on our environment.




I love how everything she explained could be linked to what we have been taught in this course and that is exactly how I would teach it to my students. I would teach them how to use the Design Process, taking each step one at a time and explaining the benefits of the process.

I would put a high priority on teaching the students how important it is to embed sustainable practices into every design and to use sustainability as a parameter. I would then talk to them about how every decision we make has an impact on future generations.

By reflecting on each design process, we can work out what was beneficial and what wasn't. We can then come up with new strategies to improve designs and come up with innovative solutions.