Employing Blog For Assessment

            Blog which performs as an electronic diary for individual has become trendy day by day. It is really not a surprise to see people from all folks of life to have an account for themselves as blog serves for everybody with the permit that they enjoy blogging and love to share their life experiences with others particularly their followers. As Web 2.0 is spreading its wings vigorously in this modernized and globalized world of technology, blog has been utilized as one of the platforms for the students and teachers to carry out teaching and learning virtually. Blog is being used for community building, simple conversation, knowledge sharing, mentoring, reflection writing, peer review and the making. And now, it seems that blogs are slowly standing on a well-built foundation to be employed for assessment. I reckon that everyone is in flow with me saying that blog is experiencing such a drastic and amazing growth. From a simple function as an electronic diary, now it is spreading its wings to be a parameter for evaluating students’ performances in schools and also higher academic settings.

             In employing blog for evaluation, it can be utilized in both formative and summative assessment for it is an ongoing assignment.  To carry it out, teachers should introduce it to the students at the very beginning of the course. Every student is required to create a personal blog for themselves. They should record their weekly reflection and all the learning processes they experienced during lectures, tutorials and also group discussion. Besides, everyone in the class should follow each other’s blog and comment on the posts. These are all to be recorded in chronological order. Hence at the end of the course, each and every one of them will have a blog resembling a journal of their learning processes and experiences for the particular semester. 

            But for nothing in this world can really fit everybody’s shoe perfectly, some teachers might just close their heart and mind from this transformation. Especially those senior educators who are “computer immigrant”, employing blog for assessment might just be a troublesome for them. But for those who are “computer native” and computer savvy, there will be no problem for them to start utilizing it to evaluate their students. Since the society nowadays is also very much computer savvy, I reckon there should be no problem for them to adapt themselves being assessed though blog. Erasing the troublesome that might be being experienced by some people, employing blog for assessment is actually an effectual way of evaluating the students especially students in higher education. Blog is easy to carry out, economical for no paper or printing is needed and so not time-oriented. For the teachers can monitor the students’ progress from time to time I think that the students will be more serious in doing their work. Without doubt they will not overlook the instructions given by the teachers as they know that assessment is being made through their individual ongoing blog maintenance and update. They are very aware that their marks are in their own hands. It is so easy for them to gain marks and to lose marks as well.

            Apart from that, utilizing blog for assessment is also a fairer medium to evaluate the diverse learners. As collaborative and cooperative learning is widely emphasized nowadays, some of the group members might just be parasites to their group particularly those who are not very diligent and weaker in academic. So, through the reflection that each and every student should do weekly to share about their learning experiences, teachers can easily detect those who are not doing the given work accordingly. Hence, the deduction of marks can be done accordingly to the right person who deserve it and not to affect the other group members who contribute much in doing the task. Apart from that, the reason why we conclude that it is a fairer medium for assessment is because it is an ongoing assessment. So, it performs as an advantage for every student with diverse ability, capability and intelligence. As the traditional form of assessment which is still being practiced until today, students are to vomit all of the knowledge that they have on paper within 2 or 3 hours of examination. In this case, some students might just turn “black out” or blank due to nervousness. They can think anything at all and there goes their marks for the particular examined paper. Hence, blogging for assessment may be their saviour.

            Nonetheless, there are still limitations and cons of employing blog for assessment. Before we think for other complex reasons, one fact to be remembered when involving online blogging for assessment is not everybody is committed in blogging. Some might just need to be in the mood of blogging then they will not feel being force or push to update and maintain their blog.  It takes a real passion and self-motivation for one to stay tune with their blog and follow others’ blog as well. Thus, it is not easy to employ blogging as an assessment because some students are just lazy to stay committed to update their blog. So, there goes their mark.

            Apart from that, I think that Malaysia is still pretty new to the modern kind of learning. If blog is to be employed for assessment in tertiary education, it might be acceptable but if it were to be employed since primary school, I reckon Malaysia is yet to be ready for that drastic transformation. This is because our country is still lacking of the facilities and workforce in that area. Inadequate facilities such as computer and internet connection in the rural area make it hard to employ blog for standard assessment. Students in the rural area might just do not have any idea about what blog is all about. Worst come to worst, some of them are computer illiterate. However, in my point of view, Malaysia should move with the flow of modernization in education in a continuum. Since now the tertiary education in Malaysia is so much emphasized on the online learning, the educators should slowly utilize it in the secondary and primary school as well. As for tertiary education, blogging are mainly undertaken mainly by universities, colleges and business enterprises. The meaning of blogging for the institution involved is far from matters concerning entertainment which is mostly used for important work, for research and even professional business. Especially for students who are taking distance learning, blogging is essential for them so that facilitators can keep track of their learning, sharing and even discussing about their work.

            In the nutshell, employing blog for assessment is not to be a troublesome for the tech-savvy society nowadays. Even though there are some limitations that may inhibit the employment of blog for assessment, it should not to be made as reasons for us to close the door of education for the better advancement. Everybody must keep their feet on the real ground and realise that we are now living in the modern world. So, we should try to adapt ourselves for any kind of advancement in education.

 To read the literature review (pdf format) done by Vanessa and me, you can visit the following link.

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/khatikaho_ipgks/files/Week%203a/

*Happy reading*

The Third Week [Reflection 3]

The third week was tiring. We were again assigned to do an assignment in pairs. For this week, our assignment was to write a literature review. The instructions given required us to find, read, analyze and do a review based on four journals. Two journals are to be downloaded form UKM online library, one from Google Scholar and another one from Google Books.

            Again for this time, I still stick to my loyal pair that is Vanessa Cordilia. As what was instructed by our course coordinator, Dr. Siti Fatimah, the topic to be chose for Assignment 4 and the rest to come must be the same as the one we chose for Assignment 1. So, definitely our topic for this assignment is again Web 2.0 in Education.

            First thing of all before we started doing our literature review, Vanessa and I worked together to find suitable journals from Google Scholar and Google Books during lecture on Monday for we could not get access to the UKM online library. But fortunately, Dr. Siti saved our day. She was willingly to share us her username and password to enable us to get access to the online library.

            After a few hours of searching, we finally managed to find four suitable journals in respect to our topic Web 2.0 in Education. We then read them analytically, identify our problem statement and take the gist of them. For this literature review, we agreed to narrow down the topic. So, we agreed upon the review on “Employing Blog for Assessment”. 

Learning Management System & Course/Content Management System (L/CMS)

What is L/CMS?

·        -  LMS is defined as a set of software application or Web-based application that is used to manage online learning and training.

·        -  CMS is an online system that is originally designed to support education or academic courses in academic settings such as varsities and high schools.

Who use L/CMS?

1.    - Students

2.    - Trainee

3.    - Educators

4.    - Course conductors

For further reading on the essay done by me and my pair Vanessa about L/CMS, please visit the following link.

https://docs.google.com/docume​nt/d/136gv1todBpPYb0HGgq-9OtcT​Af0mbcfqb7gF3pFlPBg/edit?hl=en​_GB

www.google.com

*Happy reading*

Web 2.0 In Education

The fast growing technology does not only affect the technology field itself but it does leave massive and wide footprints in the education field as well. As what it is clearly seen nowadays, education system in most of the countries around the world particularly to be mentioned, those well-developed Western countries. Asian countries are also catching up with the advancement of technology in education including our country Malaysia. 

This we can see through the implementation of e-learning or online learning particularly in the higher academic settings or tertiary education. 

Talking about online learning, questions always come across our mind on how it is being carried out. Will it benefit both the educators and students or will they cause any long term effects on them? Basically, from my reading it has come to my knowledge that Web 2.0 is one of the tools that support online learning. Web 2.0 is not to be an extraterrestrial term for those who are very computer savvy and clinging so much on the internet for their studies and careers. It is associated with the web applications that facilitate and cater information sharing, user-centered design and collaborative learning on the World Wide Web (WWW).  Instances of Web 2.0 tools are social networking as Facebook, blog, wikis, youtube, video conferencing and many more. If I were to list them all out here, surely they will make a super long and wordy list. 

High academic settings such as varsities and high schools are the common places where Web 2.0 is widely being used as a tool to carry out online learning. It is very common to see the lecturers and students interact with each other via Facebook, e-mail accounts, blogs and skype. Assignments are sent through e-mail. Whereas blog, Google document, Yahoo group and Facebook group act as the sites for discussion and sharing of ideas as well as opinions among the students involving the lecturers. Besides those mentioned earlier on, skype is also being used widely nowadays. However, personally I think that skype is more to private tutoring. Maybe the discussion or teaching and learning session can be carried out for two or three students in one go but it will not work efficiently in a group of a vast number of students. Still for me, the best is to carry it out personally.

On the surface, Web 2.0 really contributes a lot of pros to the education system especially now that we are going for online learning. By having the teaching and learning online, both parties do not have to spend their time for face to face interaction. Regardless the place and time, lecturers are able to distribute the materials of learning to the students and so do the students. This will help to solve the problem of missing out materials for learning because of absence or sickness. They can make done their group work without seeing each other at all. All they have to do is to make sure that everybody can get access to the internet and do their part with full commitment.

Apart from that, by using Web 2.0 to teach, the educators can involve everybody in the discussion and presentation including the learners who are very silent and timid. In short, Web 2.0 helps to overcome the problem of shy students being left out during class discussion in traditional classrooms. Discussion via internet allows them to speak out their mind on the topic that is being discussed.

Moreover, Web 2.0 benefits the learners for it is pretty economical. They do not have to travel much to meet the lecturers at the main campus or meet the course mates to carry out group work or discussion. With the permit that they have their personal computer or laptop with them equipped with the internet access, they are anytime to be able to download any materials given by the lecturers without delay thus complete their task on time.

From my own experience, when I was in primary and secondary school, online learning was not so much being emphasized. The education system was concentrating on the traditional method which involved compulsory face to face interaction, chalk and talk and books-dependent. But now that I am in a teacher training institute taking up a course that involve collaboration with a well-known varsity in Malaysia that is National Malaysia University, I rely almost 100% with online learning. Yes, we do have lectures which are compulsory to be attended but most of the tasks are given via e-mail. Especially for this semester I am taking up Computer in Education, online learning is so much being emphasized. For that course,  I have to sign up for numerous accounts online. I have to have an official Yahoo account, Gmail account, Facebook account, Yahoo Group and create a blog as well. The rational for doing those is for information sharing and discussion with our lecturer here, our course coordinator in UKM and our course mates. No doubt, it does make my life easier. I have no problem in accessing new information from peers and lecturers, share my work, carry out discussion and also do my research.

Nevertheless, I reckon that we should not be too flattered and convenient with the pleasure of using Web 2.0 as a tool in education because there are some cons of it too. From what I have discovered in my researches and readings, the presence of Web 2.0 will promote online learning to spread widely and drastically thus will silently erode our social skills. My partner, Vanessa Cordilia does agree with me too. For we are so convenient of using Web 2.0 tools for sharing information and discussion, we prefer to do everything via internet. We seldom meet our peers for group discussion or assignment. We even do not have to spend our time drive or walk to the campus to see the lecturer just for the purpose of handing in the assignment. Instead, we can just send them via e-mail. So, in my thought, less interaction with the outsiders will erode our social skills as well as communication skills.

Besides, strangers are easily getting access to our personal information. Social networking site such as Facebook is the centre where people share about themselves to their friends all over the world. For viruses are exist to disrupt the computer system, hackers and stalkers are also available to stalk other’s accounts be it for good purposes or vice versa. So, without our conscience, by sharing too much information about ourselves in Facebook or even blog, we are indirectly making ourselves vulnerable to fall as a victim for stalkers and hackers.


In the nutshell, there are really a lot of beneficial things I have learned through this Think, Pair and Share assignment. To be honest, it is not easy to work out an assignment in pairs because different people view things differently. Conflicting ideas and opinions might exist between the two of us. But I am very grateful that Vanessa and I never have conflicts or what so ever. We listened to each other's opinion and choose the best of it. We learn to tolerate and appreciate each other's views. Apart from that, we assisted each other a lot in finding resources and managing them. Indirectly, both of us got to polish up our computer skills. So, it short, it is agreeable that "two heads is better that one".


For further reading on what Vanessa and I have come out with, please visit the following link.
http://www.facebook.com/groups/145705692171230?view=doc&id=147600461981753

*Happy reading*

2nd Week of Lecture [Reflection 2]

For the second week of lecture, the assignments given are getting tougher and more challenging. More focus, diligence and patience are needed in order to be able to complete the tasks given successfully. For this week, mostly we have to worked in pairs to complete the assignments. Glad to mention, my partner is Vanessa Cordilia. The first assigment assigned was Think, Pair and Share. There were 10 topics related to computer and ICT proposed by Dr. Siti Fatimah, our course coordinator. Vanessa and I chose to do the 8th topic that is Web 2.0 in education. The topic sounded easy but actually it was challenging. There are a lot of information available in the net but a major thing to be remembered is NO PLAGIARISM. Both of us were trying our best to figure out what Web 2.0 is all about and how it is being used and apply in education today. To make things easier, we divided the task among the two of us. After a few hours of searching the information and discussion, we have finally managed to come out with a pretty long essay. An AUTHENTIC essay from the two of us. Frankly speaking, there are really a lot of knowledge we gained when doing this assignment. We get to know numbers of example of Web 2.0 such as blog, social networking site such as Facebook, video conferencing, Youtube and so on, how they are applied in education, their advantages and also disadvantages. Nowadays, Web 2.0 is leaving it's footprints in the field of education as e-learning is catching its fame worldwide especially in the tertiary education. Teaching and learning process can be carried out anytime despite the time and place as long as both learners and educators are accessible to the internet. However, we should not be tackled too much of its advantages for there are also numbers of disadvantages of using too much Web 2.0 in learning. As such, it deteriorates the social skills of the students. To read more about what Vanessa and I have come out with, please visit the document that I have uploaded in my facebook group at http://www.facebook.com/groups/145705692171230?view=doc&id=147600461981753.

Besides doing the Web 2.0 issue, we also need to do research on C/LMS (content/learning management system). Things that we have to covered are what is it all about, who uses it, how, why and where it is being used. Apart from that, again we have to list out its pros and cons. For this task, we are required to upload it in Google document. Once again, besides uploading document in Facebook group, to upload document in Google is also my first experience.Computer in Education GE1155 really teaches me a lot of soft technical skills.

Lastly, we were assigned to complete the database in GE1155 yahoo group and also create a table of database in our own yahoo group. Being a non computer savvy, i seriously have no idea on how to do all those things. I tried to be an independent learner by discovering how do manage it by myself. Finally I managed to complete it with a bit of assistance from Mr. Fariddudin. He's always being nice and helpful. Without him, I'm sure that everybody in the class will get lost in their journey of completing the tasks given.

Signing up for numerous official accounts on net

Dizziness lingered me as we were instructed to create new official account for Yahoo Mail, Google Mail, Yahoo Group, Facebook and a blog. To create them is never be a huge problem but to manage them involves a little bit of problem. To remember the user name and the password for each account is a real challenge. But as a teacher-to-be, I must have the spirit to try and take up the challenge.

Yahoo Mail & Gmail 
First and foremost, I was to sign up for Yahoo Mail and Gmail on the first day of lecture. The most crucial thing about it was to make them official. Besides, funny names are not allowed to be used in creating the new accounts. The rational of it was to make sure that our lecturers and friends will be able to recognise our accounts easily. I didn't have much problem creating them since I had an experience creating e-mail accounts before. But the new thing I learnt was how to make it an official account. What I meant by an official account is I have my signature at the very bottom of each e-mail I compose and send to others. For example,


Khatika Ho
A135742
B.Ed TESL
UKM-IPG Kampus Sarawak

E-mail address:khatikaho@yahoo.com
khatikaho@gmail.com
Yahoo group: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/khatikaho_ipgks
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/khatika.ho
Blog: http://khatika-ho.blogspot.com/
Hp no: 013-8280164


We were very fortunate to have a full guidance from Mr. Fariddudin in setting up these accounts. Hence, zero problems arose. 




Yahoo Groups
Besides creating new official e-mail accounts, we were also to create a Yahoo Group and join the group that our beloved course coordinator, Dr. Siti Fatimah have created previously. These are really new things to me as I never learn to create one before. I literally lost in the first place but after several hours of learning and exploring together with useful guidance from Mr. Fariddudin and also my classmates, I finally managed to tackle it. I have successfully created one and even added all my classmates including Mr. Fariddudin our lecturer and Dr. Siti Fatimah, our course coordinator to my Yahoo Group. After a successful attempt, I found that it was not that complicated to set up a Yahoo Group. All I have to do in the first place was to visit Yahoo homepage. Then I clicked on the "Groups" at Yahoo Services. After that, what I have to do was to follow the steps and instructions provided. I started with a very simple step that was to click on "Start your group today". It was then followed by completing details for my group, customized it and finally added friends to join my group. 
At the first place, I was wondering why do we have to create a Yahoo Group and also join each other's group. After exploring, I finally understood that Yahoo Group is a tool to connect with classmates, lecturers and people of the same interest efficiently. By having a Yahoo Group and get my classmates to join, it is easier for us to hold discussions and share information with each other regardless the time and place. It is truly interesting and beneficial and I enjoyed learning it.


Facebook
As we know, Facebook is very popular as a tool of social networking nowadays. And I am very sure that almost everyone in the world has an account for themselves regardless their age and location as long as they have an access to the internet. I myself has one personal Facebook account. For this course, we are required to create an official Facebook account to stay connected with classmates in IPGKS, friends of the same course in IPGKDRI, our lecturer and course coordinator. Besides, we were also to create a group in Facebook and get our friends to join.  No doubt, Facebook is superbly efficient. We can share pictures, recent activities and latest news by just a few clicks. Steps to sign up for a new Facebook account are as follow:
1) Visit Facebook homepage.
2) Fill in your information and click "sign up"
3) Customize your profile.
4) Add friends to your account.


To make my account an official one, I need to do the verification by visiting my account setting and get the administrator to send the code to my contact number. After the verification is done, my Facebook is now an official account. For this, I would like to express my special gratitude to Barbara Kath for assisting me much. THANKS A LOT BABE!


Blog
Finally...The final one. To create a blog. Oh..That was a real bizarre to me as I have zero knowledge on that. Yeah...I do heard about it before but so sad to say that I never bloom any interest in it. To follow anyone's blog is already out of my mind and what more to say to create one for myself. 
But as we were instructed to create one, I have to do so. I started from zero. A total ZERO. Thousands of thanks to my friends, particularly Barbara Kath and my room mate, Clearance Flora for their generous assistance while I was on my way of creating and customizing my blog. I created my blog using my Gmail account and then filled in necessary details in it. To make it easy for my friends to follow my blog, I took the initiative to use my own full name as in my IC in my blog URL.
Blog is simply an electronic diary. I can post anything, express my feelings and share them with everybody particularly my followers. Now that I already have one for myself, I find joy in blogging and I shall keep on blogging for the days ahead.
There are really a lot of useful and beneficial things I have learnt in Week 1. Just an early exploration but I really enjoyed myself. I really look forward for the nest lessons.


Love,
*ika*

My First Week of My Third Semester [Reflection 1]

A super long holiday really makes my brain a bit rusty and functions slower than it should be. I have learned that there are three courses to be taken up for our short semester. They are TSL, Learners Diversity and Differentiated Teaching and Computer in Education. My eyes rounded and stared for a few moments when I read through the courses. COMPUTER IN EDUCATION. "Oh my goodness"..I was just smiling and sighing. It's not that I don't like it but I am kind of nervous to take it up because for all this while, I am well-known in the class as an "ICT idiot". Yeah of course I am not a total idiot in ICT but just a modest user with moderate knowledge about it. But anyways, I am very thankful and grateful to be given a chance to learn and explore more about computer and ICT for we know that education today is stroke by the boosting of technology. Education system in most of the countries in the world is upgrading to a more advance system in which technology has allowed the students and teachers to have virtual class. So perhaps, GE1155 Computer in Education will be an medium for me to upgrade myself too. 


The very first day of class, we have being showered by numerous instructions from our lecturer, Mr. Fariduddin to set up numbers of account, yahoo mail, gmail, yahoo group, facebook and lastly blog. And these are all have to be an official account. Those were superbly a lot and kind of killing me on the first day of lecture. But before he allowed us to proceed with our tasks, Mr. Fariddudin has given us hours of lecture. He presented numbers of slides on components of computer, operating system, viruses, anti-virus and various softwares available in the market. Personally I think that his presentation on those slides are very relevant and correlated with what we as teachers should know especially to prepare ourselves for the advancement of technology in education. This is very important to make sure that we are able to deliver our teaching materials interestingly besides effectively. 


As to summarize, the first week of lecture was all about the introduction to the world of computer and also all the applications we can use and sign up in the internet for the easier way of contacting and interacting with peers and lecturers just as what I have mentioned before. I found that the lectures and also tutorials are very interesting and beneficial. Seriously I gained a lot of knowledge and new skills from the presentation and hands on activities.