Introduction
The use of online or blended classes where students and instructors interact on a one-on-one basis while they are far away from each other just by the use of internet connectivity has become a common trend in the IT generation of the day. Such classes are advantageous since they enable access to information and the ability to study from anywhere around the world, irrespective of the race, location, geographic barriers, or whatever other drawbacks that may hinder one from being able to physically attend a class that they need for their own personal and skill development. Online classes however require a set of rules and principles of operation to ensure they run smoothly and that all students benefit from the sessions as well as ensuring that the instructor can convey their message and achieve desired results from the students satisfactorily. This may be easily achieved through the development of a rubric that may be used to gauge if the online class is undertaken as planned.
This study seeks to apply a rubric for online instructors (RIO) to assess the performance and success of the online class that I participated in.
Rubric for Online Instructors (RIO)
The RIO is a rubric was used for assessing the online class. The areas in the class that rated the highest according to the rubric included instructional design and delivery, online organization and design, innovative teaching with technology, and assessment and evaluation of students’ learning. The class had a very easy time due to the availability and assistance of the instructor who was always ready to assist in areas of difficulties and so, in the area of learner support and resources, the course had an average rating. However, the course had weaknesses in that the faculty did not utilize information and feedback from the students adequately, and there hence seemed to be a replication of the problems that had been identified and reported by previous classes.
One experience that I had during the training is that I sometimes had a problem with my reading due to a previous eye condition. However, I had to force myself to read the content for the classroom irrespective of the difficulties. I wished that there was a way of one being able to get a voice-oriented option that one may listen to instead of reading. It would be important for online classes to consider the integration of voice into the classes to avoid the long hours of straining on the computer for those with sight issues so as not to sideline some people based on their health difficulties (Lee & McLoughlin, 2010).
For any online class to be effective and beneficial to students there is a need for instructors to be more involved and show a lot of interest in what the students are doing or going through. I most cases, an instructor will post a discussion online and then disappear only to appear for assessment or the actual exams. This is great disorientation for students. However, when a student is aware of the fact that the lecturer is observing their participation and is ready to assist at any one time, then it becomes a very interesting affair for one to undertake the online classes.
My online class experience was consistent with the class readings in many ways. For example, the discussion of connectivism theory indicated that an online class requires the use of technology for its undertaking, a factor that was integrated into our class. Also, such a class required a lot of support from the instructor as well as guidelines on how the class will be conducted and on how to access information from the website in use. Also, the online organization and design of my class were as expected, perfect. A lot of time had been taken to ensure that students had the easiest time while getting information from the class and there was an inbuilt search engine that helped search for content easily (Stevens, 2004).
Creating an Assessment Rubric
The learning objectives that the rubric will focus on include learner support and resources, instructional design and delivery, innovative teaching with technology as well as assessment and evaluation of student learning. This way, the rubric that will be considered will be the rubric for online instructors that will assess the success and effectiveness of the online class about its critical thinking level. This form of the rubric is important in ensuring that information was passed on from the instructor to the students in an effective manner and as intended or expected by the faculty, the instructor, and the students.
A few barriers that were encountered during the development stage included identifying the scores for the rubric as well as fitting the different characteristics of the class into a given category on the rubric. A rubric is a very important tool since, unlike a marking scheme, it indicates the expectations of the instructor and the faculty on the outcomes of a student right before the student undertakes the course. This way, a student can gauge his/her performance while undertaking the course to be able to determine their level of performance. This tool hence helps one become better in undertaking a course hence improving the results and outcomes from the students and the instructor (Kop & Hill, 2008).
The assessment rubric developed for the class was as follows:
References
Lee, M., & McLoughlin, C. (2010). Beyond distance and time constraints: Applying social networking tools and Web 2.0 approaches in distance education. Web.
Kop, R. & Hill, A. (2008). Connectivism: Learning theory of the future or vestige of the past?Web.
Stevens, D. (2004). Introduction to Rubrics: An Assessment Tool to Save Grading Time, Convey Effective Feedback, and Promote Student Learning. London: Stylus Publishing.