tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4435865350900000888.post3359719392676261018..comments2023-10-31T07:10:34.665-04:00Comments on thinkingcio: Academic Records and the Changing Education ModelAnonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15357178465521652083noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4435865350900000888.post-4154124573262185182012-04-23T10:12:19.219-04:002012-04-23T10:12:19.219-04:00I really like the idea of tracking learning object...I really like the idea of tracking learning objectives. As the "student swirl" practice continues to grow, the experience on our campus is that students overload on credits and time-to-degree is increased. We also see our faculty spending time evaluating course objectives from other universities to keep transfer equivalencies current and material in value. I think the key information technology sentence is: "What if we could track learning objectives and what if the learning objectives mastered could be downloaded?". That is a rethinking of our internal records systems. It also presents an opportunity to vendors to create new campus-independent solutions that record an individual student's mastered learning objectives. Ideally, the student could send their learning objectives to his or her chosen institution to accommodate transfers, or even to potential employers to substantiate learning.<br /><br />Pretty exciting to think about. Is anyone doing this as an innovative practice?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15357178465521652083noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4435865350900000888.post-76784530179658940182012-02-17T13:31:48.121-05:002012-02-17T13:31:48.121-05:00One of the issues we are discussing is whether the...One of the issues we are discussing is whether the "course" is the right way to chunk academic records. Most courses have a set of learning objectives that they are designed to teach. This is partially why some courses are pre-requisites to taking another course. <br /><br />While tracking academic progress by the course has many benefits, it is not very granular, and as a result it may not provide the right level of transparency in what a student does know. Increasingly, in thinking about the fact that students start at one institution and then transfer to another institution you have the challenge of determining if learning objectives for a prior course were similar enough to allow that course to meet the pre-requisite requirements.<br /><br />What if we could track learning objectives and what if the learning objectives mastered could be downloaded so the student can be keeping these. Now suppose a student can get learning objectives completed through graded coursework, open courseware, self-study, on-the-job, or service learning. This would allow us to really align the process of students taking courses at different institutions -- they would know what learning objectives are required prior to taking the course and they could develop strategies to meet those requirements. <br /><br />An important aspect in this is to remember that we don't retain all that we learn. Over time, we see that people retain less and less if they have not had to use that information. What if we could place "time-stamps" on when that knowledge objective outcome was last validated. We can then provide instruments that validate students have these knowledge outcomes still in place that are part of the pre-requisite foundation needed to successfully complete a course.<br /><br />One model that is appealing in this process is thinking about the badge concept. Supposed learning outcomes were badges had issue dates and last validation dates. The student is able to keep all their badges and augment these as necessary through a variety of methods outlined above. We can then move from course-based prerequisites to more finer grained learning objectives that need to align for success.Jack Sueshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10128767099061586577noreply@blogger.com