1. Assessment and Round
Up Activities
By James Johnson and Sue Robinson
We will look at:
• Considerations and task types of:
Asynchronous written online discussions
Synchronised chat discussions
• Closing activities – why and what

2. Assessing Asyncronised Online
Discussions
Considerations:
•Have a set of clear criteria for the task
•Develop a matrix/criteria when grading:
Criteria: Excellent (5) Acceptable (3) Poor (1) Total
Meeting the deadline The student made the The student made some The student did not post
required posts by the of the required posts by by the required deadline
deadline set. the deadline set. set.
Quality of work The student has clearly The student has written The student has not
thought about the material about the material, but reflected on the material,
and has raised interesting has not offered or the post made is
solutions and/or problems. information that was not irrelevant to the topic.
already given in the text.
Mechanics The post made does not The post made contains The post made contains
contain grammatical or very few grammatical several grammatical
spelling errors. and/or spelling errors. and/or spelling errors and
is difficult to understand.
Sample Rubric taken from:
The Effectiveness and Development of Online Discussions by Olla Najah Al-Shalchi
http://jolt.merlot.org/vol5no1/al-shalchi_0309.htm

3.  A set of guidelines for how to participate and expectations to
meet the criteria
 Design tasks that encourage sharing, negotiation and skills
and with a real purpose/focus
 Variation in task type and format should be given: video, wiki,
podcast, documents, visual, spoken
 Tasks can be longer than synchronous chat as participant
has more time to research and think.
 Regulate discussions/make them manageable and provide a
two way dialogue
 Keep to a time frame/length for each task

4.  Keep a clear record/tracking system/copy of transcript or text
 To give opportunity for peer feedback
 Think about use of video and audio to give feedback- more
personal
 Ensure cohesion

5. Types of tasks: many have been
exemplified on this course
 Tasks to give opinion, relate experiences, evaluate and use
question and answers.
 Responses to questions previously set/research articles
 Critiques/reviews of material
 Peer feedback and evaluation
 Comment on a picture/song/broadcast
 Shared viewing of a video

6.  Making a video/podcast
 To summarise the discussion
 Review of case studies
 Students submit a study plan to the tutor-feedback from tutor
 Using some of the Google apps: Questionnaires on how the
tasks went. This helps self-correction
 Get them to keep a reflective journal, this could allow for self-
correction.
 Create an e portfolio

7. Assessing Synchronised Chat
Considerations
 To assess is difficult as how do you measure ‘chat’ ?
 Synchronised chat is more informal, and so can be fragmented and
hard to keep consistency
 Issue of unreliable technology/internet connections
 Time zone differences between students – not all will be able to
participate at the same time
 The chat needs to be monitored and ‘chaired’ by someone to keep the
focus of the task and stop deviations from the topic. Therefore the role
of the tutor is more important here.
 The ‘moderator‘ needs to encourage reluctant participants or stopping
over dominant ones

8. What to assess
Synchronous Chat is very difficult to assess due to the nature
of a spoken text. It could, therefore, have more focus on how
they participate: This is still difficult to measure and would
need criteria as mentioned above to clearly identify the levels
of expected participation.
 Turn taking
 Frequency of comment and participation
 Does the student stay on topic
 Valued points that add to the discussion and are relevant
 Evidence of reading the course material in their contribution
 Acknowledging other participants in the exchange and
responding to their comments

9.  Netiquette is being followed
 Their participation is helping develop the conversation –
asking pertinent questions
 Are they just ‘lurking’ – not really participating
 Punctuality and attendance – is there a required %
 Responding productively or contributing something just to be
‘on record’
 Empower them - get them to act as moderator or summariser
in a group chat and after a group chat

10. Type of tasks
As chat is sharing and talking, the tasks need to be collaborative
and either in pairs or small groups. Assessment could take any
format: aural or text chat or through video. Tasks on slide 5-6 can
be used for both synchronised and asynchronised but the
following extra tasks could also be used for synchronised chats:
 Video conferencing
 Role play – to interact with other participants
 Use software such as Jing, GoToMeeting Space or Collaborate
to present topics or share information
 Get them to take on a moderator role within the group/changing
roles to different people

11. CLOSING ACTIVITIES
Closing the course is very important as:
 Often participants feel at a loss when the course has ended
as they’ve bonded with the group (particularly on longer
courses)
 They’ve been doing it so long it’s part of their routine.
 So activities are a good way to bring everything to a close
and sum up what’s been learnt/shared.

12. Examples of activities
(1 and 2 from Nicky Hockley’s Blog Emoderation Station)
 Parting gift- specific to course (something such as a favourite
website, tool, picture, video clip or program to give…)
 Wall wisher – to say one thing learnt from the course or what they
going to do after the course
 Students could complete a feedback questionnaire on the course
 Self-evaluation questionnaire:
where most improved
would like to further develop

13.  Make a montage of photos with words/phrases from each
participant to be remembered
 Farewell messages using Podcast or video
 A farewell discussion forum (Scot Thornbury’s idea from
Nicky’s blog)
 Quiz/review of course using puzzlemaker/pictures or similar
 Headline points! – using Fodey -something we thought at the
beginning but has now changed or improved
 A farewell synchronised chat to review, test, say goodbye
(as we did )

14. References
 The Effectiveness and Development of Online Discussions by
Olla Najah Al-Shalchi
http://jolt.merlot.org/vol5no1/al-shalchi_0309.htm
 Emoderation Station Blog Nicky Hockley
 Assessment in the Digital Age JISC (Ros Smith podcast)
 Instruction Design Tips for Online Learning
by Joan van Duzer
 Planning an Online Course by Curt Bonk -
http://www.indiana.edu/~icy/media/de_series.html
 The Real-time Online Tutor by Clive Shepherd