Guiding the Learning Process

Recommended Practice

Reasoning

In an online environment, students need explicit instructions to guide the studying and learning process. Guidelines are given to students before the learning and assessment begin. Guidelines can come in many forms:

  • Checklist of things to do
  • Rubrics to guide instruction, learning and assessment
  • Modeling expectations
  • Practice tests
  • Games

Guidelines should be given to students at the beginning of a new topic instead of giving them all guidelines at the beginning of the semester. For example, if you start new lecture material or a new topic every week, guidelines for that specific topic should be given at that time.

In a face-to-face class, instruction for assignments are often articulated verbally. The online environment necessitates that we be more specific and explicit with instructions.

Students like structure. If instructions are clear and guidelines are specific to the learning task, students are more likely to prepare.

Guideline Explanation
Checklists

A checklist could be anything that they need to do to prepare for an event. Say you want the students to write a paper. Indicate to them what you are looking for in the paper. For example:

The paper must contain the following elements:

  1. Title
  2. Abstract
  3. Argument
  4. Supporting information
  5. Conclusion
  6. References

You would also want to indicate the weight each carries. This would be applicable to designing assignments for the assignment tool in Vista. See more about assignments in Vista.

Guideline Explanation
Rubrics

A rubric is more specific than a guideline. It focuses on the accountability of the learning and assessment. It also addresses the qualitative layer that is often needed in assignments. What will the students be expected to DO and how well will they demonstrate it in the assessment phase? For example, let's say you are requiring them to write a paper, and that the paper requires specific pieces of information such as good grammar, correctly stated citations, etc. You need to delineate the "degrees" of acceptable performance. For this you would use a rubric that might look something like this:

Criteria Poor
0 points		 Acceptable
1 point		 Superior
2 points 		Total Score
Grammar More than 5 grammar errors 1-4 grammar errors 0-1 grammar error  
Proper Citation Consistent errors in all citations Random errors in citations, but not all 0-1 error in citations  

The important part about this rubric is that it clearly delineates between poor, acceptable, and superior performance. There is no guessing on the part of the instructor or the students. It is completely objective, and there is no room for subjectiveness on the part of the graders. The rubric accomplishes two things: it clearly outlines what is expected of the student to "hit the mark," and it standardizes grading because poor, acceptable and superior are clearly defined. The following links have examples of rubrics for all disciplines.

  1. Assortment of Rubrics for Different Disciplines
  2. Teacher Created Rubrics for Assessment
  3. Just what is a rubric?
  4. Understating Rubrics
  5. 10 Rules for Writing Rubrics
  6. Shamble's Menu
  7. Rubrics for Lessons
  8. Rubistar - Create a Rubric Online
Guideline Explanation
Model Expectations Sometimes the best student learning guide is a good model of what you expect. For example, if you are requiring them to apply MLA or APA guidelines to a paper, you might show them an example of a good paper. A "picture" is worth a thousand words.
Guideline Explanation
Practice Tests

Have you ever considered using a test as a teaching tool? Practice tests do just that. It gives the students practice in taking the types of tests you write, and it gives them more exposure to the material. Consider a practice test "time on task." It forces them to think about the things they do not know, which in turn causes them to seek out the information from their notes and reading material. You can incorporate feedback for right and wrong answers. Vista can grade multiple choice, true/false, and matching questions automatically. Another aspect of using practice tests is that the tests can provide instant feedback, which can enhance learning.

Use the Self-Test tool in Vista.

Self-tests do not have a grade. Self-tests are for practice only. The self-test tool is found in the assessment area of Vista. You can choose to give feedback or not on the specific answers.

Use the Quiz tool in Vista

Quizzes are for a grade. When you create a quiz in Vista, you can release it to the student under conditions you choose. If you are using the quiz tool to promote study and learning (rather than just for a grade or to test learning), you can set the quiz to do the following:

  1. You can let them take a quiz as many times as they like until they achieve a certain grade.
    1. Set the quiz to show only the grade, not the answers.
    2. Set the quiz to show answer, but not indicate the correct answer.
  2. You can provide automatic feedback for correct or incorrect questions for each question.

If you are using quizzes to promote learning, you could apply a low weight to it, and not include the grade in the overall /final grade.

Guideline Explanation
Games

Georgia Southern University has a site license for a software program called StudyMate. StudyMate uses regular test questions to create games that students can use as a study tool. StudyMate is made by the same company as Respondus, the software used to create quizzes for Vista. If you can use Respondus, you already know how to use Vista. If you wish to use StudyMate (or Respondus) Please contract the Center for Online Learning.

View examples of games created with StudyMate.