Introductory Activity

What word or phrase would you use to complete the following sentence?

The assessment of student web 2.0 authoring is ... for learning and teaching in Australian universities?

Geoffrey Crisp, University of Adelaide - "empowering" 

Siobhan Lenihan, ALTC- "opportunity"

Katina Zammit, University of Western Sydney - "challenging"

Arthur Winzengrade, CSU - "complex but essential"

Glenn Finger, Griffith University - "transformation"

Tracey Bretag - "complex, challenging but vital"

Leitha Delves, UWA - "key motivating ingredient"

Julian Cox, UNSW - "problematic but potentially powerful"

Merrilyn Goos, University of Queensland - "problematic too but in a positive sense"

Marj Kibby, University of Newcastle - "rewarding"

Matthew Allen, Curtin University - "a societal interface"

Ashley Holmes, CQU - "fundamentally ... challenges in broader society at the moment"

David Jones, "is likely to be the next fad" 

Alison Ruth,  University of Griffith "[focus on assessment is] imperative"

Greg Battye, University of Canberra - "an increasingly challenging opportunity"

Beverley Oliver, Curtin University - "a collaborative opportunity"

Denise Chalmers, University of Western Australia - "likely to be done as badly as current assessment"

Kaz Ross, University of Tasmania - "a key element of quality assurance"

Chris Hughes, UNSW - "opportunity for student engagement"

Lynette Zeeng, Swinburne University - "essential in this day and age"

Jenny Buckworth, CDU - "complex"

Scott Grant, Monash University - "critical" - "students' willingness to invest in this type of learning"

Jacqui Ewart, Griffith University - "a fathomless deep sea of endless surprises ... endless surprise"

Mark Lee, CSU - book on Web 2.0 based elearning - "potentially a catalyst for improvement"

Catherine McLoughlin, ACU - "essential enabler"

Robyn Benson, Monash University - "desirable" (desirable/essential)

Greg Whitlock, University of Melbourne - "problematic but critical"

Alex Radloff - "a great challenge"

Celia Thompson - "creative - thinking beyond the box"

Joan Richardson, RMIT - "difficult"

Bobby Elliott, SQA - "unknown, uncertain and unresearched"

Kathleen's comments

- lots of positive comments, acknowledgement that it is challenging, what does this actually mean for assessment and teaching and learning in HE?

Some of the discussion comments:

- make sure we are using web 2.0 for a clear purpose, not just for the technology sake

- beware of the 'creepy treehouse' effect: children build treehouses and when adults want to use that space it is considered 'creepy' - academic appropriation of social tools might have a similar effect.

- quality assurance: what if e.g., a journalist uses headline 'university standards collapse - university students using facebook' - we need to be able to respond to critics: what were you doing, why you're doing it, etc. Or a professional body wants to see what you're doing in assessment, want to see trends in student achievement: what do you say, what do you show, how do you explain?

- so we are looking across the spectrum, not just the design of assessment, but the quality assurance...

- assessment and marks: what about opportunities for self-assessment, peer assessment; assessment of learning, assessment for learning, assessment as learning.

- scope: private and public; generating wikis that are private to the student cohort, peer-reviewed within that group: both public and private are in scope for today's discussions.