Crossing the finish line

Well, I have to say that this was a very interesting project. My last evaluation is done, my report is complete, and   I just sent off an email to Professor Thurman with the attachments. Now I just need to post my rubric to the discussion board, and that is it. I have to say that keeping this blog up really helped me stay focused on the project, and didn't leave me any room to not getting anything done as I needed material for the blog. I think this is a great tool for educators, and hopefully I will get to use it in more classes. I already run a blog outside of class , but I never thought of using it in this capacity!

Second Eval Complete!

Well, a lot has happened since I posted yesterday. First of all, I finished the second eval. Before I did that though, I decided to make some edits to my original rubric. After writing that blog post yesterday, I decided to simplify some things. I think my rubric now covers most everything I would be looking for in the three categories mentioned, and I also put it into tables. I actually kind of redid the whole rubric, although a lot of the information I already had written. The second evaluation was done and I hope to have the third done by tonight. Tomorrow I will make any additions or edits to my paper, and that should be the end of the road! All I will have left is the course evaluation.

I've spent a lot of time looking at other people's blogs, and it is interesting to see the different approaches people take to the project. I didn't see any guideline to how we are supposed to blog this out, and I don't think the instructor is looking for any specific format, just that we are updating our progress. It's nice to see different ways that people approach things though, and I have to say that while I may have more posts than a few people, some of the other posts I have read are truly fantastic. I read through a few yesterday completely and made some comments, and I will also comment on a few more tomorrow. This project really has been interesting, and I look forward to receiving my final grade!

First Eval Complete!

Well, it took a little longer than I wanted, but my first eval is complete. I finished up my evaluation of Rosetta Stone today, and started to evaluate Busuu. I have to say that my evaluation really is geared toward a more traditional classroom and not just any course done electronically. I took the word "elearning" in the project description as any course, and Rosetta Stone came as a software package (although it can be updated online). My other two platforms are actually online courses.

Things like a formal syllabus are more than likely lacking in all three elearning courses, however I am allowing for things that can serve as a syllabus without explicitly being called one to serve in their place. A good example is when you begin Rosetta Stone, it gives you a walkthrough of what you will learn throughout that module. This could be similar to what you would receive in a tradtional course.

With (a little less than) two evaluations to go I should be finished out by the end of the week, and ready for a nice break from classes for a little while!

Evaluations Started

I began doing my evaluations on the first piece of software. I am reviewing Rosetta Stone's language learning software (www.rosettastone.com). I am learning the Portuguese language as I am currently living in Brazil to work on some writing projects. I have to say the software has a really good method of teaching. It tries to teach you similar to when you are a child, when you have no knowledge of anything and just identify words and actions with what you see. For example, you will see a picture of a boy and a picture of a girl, and it will say "menino". You have to click on which is the menino. If you click on the little girl, it lets you know you are not correct. If you click on the little boy, it then lets you know you are correct. 

There is absolutely no English in the actual courses which I was weary of at first, but I really think it helps. When I started learning the language it was mostly through books which were boring and I could just skip to the next page to see the answer when I was stumped. This software doesn't allow me to do that. I hope to have this evaluation done tomorrow and the busuu evaluation started or possibly finished. I have to say this has been one of the more enjoyable final projects I've done as I can directly apply this to my life right this moment!

Tim

Finishing up my Rubric!

The last two nights have consisted of going over different rubrics and trying to pick what I really want to use. I've decided to go with the three categories that are listed in the project section on WesternOnline, as that is what the assignment requires. I will be using different pieces of all of the evaluations I have looked at and fitting them into those three categories, possibly with subcategories depending on how it looks when I'm done. The following is a list of URLs that I have found with rubrics that I am using to create my rubric.


http://www.rcampus.com/rubricshowc.cfm?sp=yes&code=P2CACC
http://www.usca.edu/education/MEdTech/portfolio/pprubric.htm
http://elearning.wallacestate.edu/Documents/Rubric_for_Online_Instruction.pdf
http://www.cel.cmich.edu/cid/quality-checklist.html
http://www.montereyinstitute.org/pdf/OCEP%20Evaluation%20Categories.pdf
http://fod.msu.edu/oir/TeachWithTech/online-courses.asp

I have started using Rosette Stone in the past 2 weeks so I am getting pretty familiar with the interface and how to use it. I used busuu.com in the past but haven't for awhile, however I did find an Android app for it on my phone which I look forward to trying out for this project. For my last option, I was looking at Pimsleur however it is just audio. I think I will try livemocha (www.livemocha.com) for my last resource to evaluate. I hope to start evaluating this week and be done early next week!

Research, Research, Research

Today has been a day of extensive research. I am currently looking at different evaluation rubrics that are out there to form a basis of what my rubric will look like. The best rubric I seem to have found so far is from California State University (Chico). The rubric has 6 different categories that cover pretty much every component of a course as well as the design itself.

I have found a number of different universities with rubrics offered, however as I go through them I notice they are the same categories in the CSU Chico rubric. When I finally reach the end of the report, I see that they sourced this rubric for their own. I think it will provide me with the best base to get started, however I don't want to just use the same exact standards (and I'm sure it's not acceptable here either). I really want to use what I think is best and try to improve from there if possible.

As far as my three courses to evaluate, I have figured out two of the three. I am researching different courses for learning the Portuguese language as I am in Brazil. The first course I will evaluate is a software package, Rosetta Stone. I just recently started using the course myself to help improve my Portuguese, so it will be nice to evaluate it. The other course I will look at is the offerings at busuu.com. I will look into a third one the rest of the day today, and hopefully be able to go into a little more detail about all them in the next few days. I hope everyone else has had great results in their projects thus far and enjoyed the holidays!

- Tim

Introduction

Welcome. My name is Tim Schwichtenberg. This blog is dedicated to updating my progress on my final project for IDT516 Fall 2010 at Western Illinois University.