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About this site: Using the Web to Promote Collaborative Learning and Academic Critique

 

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Summary

The following Summary is taken from a paper presentated to the Atlantic Universities' Teaching Showcase, 24 Oct, 1998 at Mount Saint Vincent University, Halifax, N.S. Web archive of full paper available.

Using the Web to Promote Collaborative Learning and Academic Critique

David G. Patriquin, Professor of Biology, Dalhousie University, Halifax, N.S., Canada B3H 4J1 (dp@is.dal.ca)

Web based communication provides new venues for collaborative learning and academic critique. Twenty-six students in a one-semester class on Agroecosystems learned introductory level skills needed to prepare and handle Web documents in four Computer Learning Lab sessions. That enabled them to write term papers on Topics in Agroecosystems as Web pages; each page included an Overview and sections with Key Facts and Figures, Important Terms, Useful Literature, Useful Links and Citations. Clarity and conciseness of communication, critical use of terms and evaluation of sites on the Web for credibility and consistency through time were emphasized. Information and discussion accumulated through the semester on a bulletin board provided material for an Agroecosystems Home Page and other pages. The Topics pages were posted on the students' Public Directories on the Internet Services computer and linked through the Agroecosystems Home Page which was located in the instructor's Public Directory. This arrangement permitted a peer review process, which took place within groups of 4-6 students. When assignments became due, they were copied onto the instructor's directory. Each page was evaluated by 10 students, by the instructor, and by one of three "external" reviewers. Marks included an individual component and a group component. The group component was the average mark for all pages by members of the group multiplied by a Peer Assessment Factor, which factors in different levels of involvement in groups activities. Students expressed a high level of satisfaction with the approach, and appreciated that it gave them new skills.

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Related Documents/More Details:

The documents listed below include documents that were used in the class in 1998. They are presented to illustrate the approach, rather than as technical templates; most could be improved and were improved for the 1999/2000 class.

Guidelines for the Who we are Exercise
Guidelines for Special Topics/ Web Page
Photos for Reports
Links Formatting
Stats on student background/Assigning students to groups
Guidelines for groups
Assessment
Inidividually weighted marking scheme
Mark Statistics for Special Topics Web Pages
Students' comments on the class
Post-class update to students

The following documents describe other class activities. There were varying degrees of success with these activities. They are not commented on further here.

Web Page Advert. for the Class
Objectives of Class
Outline of Class Activites

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

Developing this class required expenditures in hardware, software and time that went beyond those normally allotted for teaching. Partial funding for new hardware and software was provided through a departmental equipment fund. The University's Student Employment Program provided 5 h assistance per week for two semesters. In the first semester Carlos Freya, a Graduate student in Computing Science, assisted in setting up hardware and software and taught me the basics of working in HTML and with WebCT. In the second semester, Ravi Gunoo, in his final year of a Computing Science degree, assisted in the Computer Learning Labs, and prepared HTML reference documents for the class. Both students made innovative suggestions and expanded my horizons. I was introduced to many of the concepts and techniques that I applied in this class in workshops sponsored by OID (Office of Instructional Development) and Academic Computing at Dalhousie Unversity. I am particularly grateful to Alan Wright and Carol O'Neil of the former and Phil O'Hara of the latter for their encouragement, feedback and day to day support when needed. Personnel at the Help desk of the University Computing Services got me out of many jams.

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