Summary
The article that I chose was quite interesting. Emmett Dulaney reveals how professors at Anderson University (IN) are using Moodle to solicit feedback from students "...to signal what they want to learn and how they want to learn it and then (potentially) set the standard by which they will be accountable." This pilot test of a 'colloborative syllabus' gave students the ability to determine specifics for the course.
Given the limited time in a semester, Anderson University devised a strategy whereby students would give input outside of class in order to be able to save time to cover more material. How did they do it?
Step 1: Assessment of Students --> a 20 question, five pt Likert scale anonymous survey was conducted at the end of an EBusiness course in Moodle to identify different attitudes and learning styles.
Step 2: Acquiring Input--> based on learning styles identified by the survey, those in the eCommerce course and those in the eBusiness course, and those not were contacted individually through a Pre Course Survey "quiz". Since Moodle doesn't have a good survey module, an additional email was sent out to let students know that their recorded actions and responses would be anonymous. The survey included questions about the number of exams that would be given, the types of assessments, the types of deliverables, learning goals from taking the course, and grading scales.
Step 3: Fine Tuning--> Based on student responses, the syllabus was created and last minute, registered students agreed with the design. The floor was opened at the first class session for suggestions, mods, or other discussion. The discussion about the syllabus was only 20 minutes--valuable time was saved.
Reflection:
I thought this was quite a controversial idea. I'm not sure what applicability this would have in a K-12 setting. I'm not sure I would have the same faith, reason, or logic in my own students to design a syllabus that makes sense to everyone involved. A good number (not all) of the responses over grades and important things like assessments that I get from students are unreasonable and illogical. I know I'm assuming a lot here, but based on prior experience with given students too much choice, I have found that students like to take advantage of teachers and situations such as this. The risk teachers facing using a collaborative syllabus style is that students may decide to take advantage of them and believe they "don't have a plan." I find that many students need more structure than this. I think if this idea were pilot tested or researched at the K-12 setting (maybe at an AP level in high school), we can see the pros and cons of using a system such as this.
Lastly, I found it interesting that Delaney mentioned "Not all that shockingly, many students chose not to access [the moodle survey] before leaving for break." But, then the email attachment sent to students with the syllabus mentioned "[t]his syllabus was created using the input many of you provided in the survey." Does this mean the university or department was exaggerating the amount of students who participated in it?
http://campustechnology.com/Articles/2008/02/Creating-a-Collaborative-Sy...
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