'Evaluate this' exercise - Online Information Literacy modules
Some online modules have become available on the Internet as the result of a national project. They were developed to help students and teachers learn to manage online information more effectively, and are called the OIL (Online Information Literacy) modules. A variety of evaluation processes were carried out during the project.
Choose one module to evaluate using the following questions:
• How useful is the module for your work situation? Explain why it is or isn't, and how you would use it.
• Comment on the look and feel of the module and how 'fit for purpose', or not it is.
• What sort of changes would you make if customising the module.
• Other comments.
o Why is evaluation important and how do you define it?
o Which two elearning Guidelines suit your context?
o Tell us how the 'Evaluate this' exercise went from your perspective. For example, which module did you evaluate, how did you do this, and what did your group decide, and did you agree?
The module we have used is about Essay writing. We have chosen a number of significant screenshots to demonstrate the sequential nature of the essay writing process.
Our responses are found following the screenshots.
You have completed the Understand the topic section of the module. You should now understand what the following words mean:
• Instruction words are the action words in the topic and tell you what to do.
• Content words are typically nouns and verbs that represent the key concepts of the essay.
• Relationship words give you a sense of the connection between different aspects of the essay.
• Remember: If you want to go over any of these words again, you can return to any of the sections at any time during the module, either by using the green arrow to the left of your screen or by clicking on the table of contents to the left of your screen.
• Some people learn by seeing (visual)
• Others learn by hearing (aural)
• others by processing text (reading/writing), and
• others learn by doing (kinesthetic)
Question One:
What positive impacts has the Treaty had on New Zealand? (from the literature)
Question Two:
What negative, or variable impacts, has the Treaty had on New Zealand? (from the literature)
Question Three:
What positive impacts has the Treaty had on New Zealand? (from my experience – family and personal)
Question Four:
What negative, or variable impacts, has the Treaty had on New Zealand? (from my experience – family and personal)
Question Five:
What are the implications for working with people? ( What aspects of the treaty need to be considered by people working with people?)
Treaty of Waitangi
________________________________________
1. Impacts
A. Positive
1. Implications for working with people
B. Variable
1. Implications for working with people
C. Negative
1. Implications for working with people
2. From familial experience
3. From the literature
4. From personal experience
Summarising and paraphrasing can be useful tools in essay writing as they allow you to include other people's ideas without cluttering up your essay with too many quotations. Consider summarising or paraphrasing when an idea from one of your sources is important to your essay but the precise wording is not.
Do not rely too heavily on either summary or paraphrase. Remember, your considered ideas are what matter most, so allow yourself the space to develop those ideas.
Summarise:
It is a brief summing up of key ideas
A summary may be of a whole paragraph, or even a whole article
It may refer to more than one reading with similar ideas
You must acknowledge your source, both in-text and in the reference list
Paraphrase:
It is extracting the key ideas and putting them into your own words. This will usually be shorter than the original
The term tends to relate to small pieces of text
It can demonstrate your ability to understand concepts, but your essay should be much more than just linking together other people’s ideas
Minor changes in text, especially when not referenced, must not be used
You must acknowledge your source, both in-text and in the reference list
Section summary
You have completed the Gather information section of the module. You have tested your knowledge of different types of information, and learned about the following reading techniques:
• Survey to get a general idea of the material available
• Skim for a general overview of content and decide whether it is worthwhile reading deeply
• Deep read with full attention to understand and analyse
• Scan to quickly find specific information e.g. Treaty
You have also learned how to select and record information using one or more of the following techniques:
• Highlight - identifying important words and phrases using a coloured pen
• Annotate - making notes on photocopies of the information
• Make notes - recording information about what you have read
• Quote - using the exact words of the author to support your argument
• Summarise - a brief summing up of key ideas
• Paraphrase - extracting key ideas and putting them in your own words
In-text citation
When you use an actual quotation
When you summarise ideas from one or more authors
2. Reference list
You have been guided towards an essay structure through the planning examples provided. Here you can see how to assemble the information you have gathered into a logical essay structure.
We cannot provide an example essay for your topic, but have a look at the example essay below about the National Parks of Otago and Southland. It was written for The Cyclopaedia of Otago and Southland (Dunedin City Council, 1999) and was one of the thirteen essays that dealt with Recreation and the Environment. It is reproduced here with kind permission from the Dunedin City Council and Neville Peat.
Essays have a recognisable structure:
• introduction
• body text
• conclusion
Both parks are introduced Introduction: The parks are named, located and their international status is given.
Paragraph Two: The extent of Fiordland National Park (FNP) is given and access is described.
Paragraph Three: The relationship between landscape
Paragraph Four: Biological features of FNP are discussed.
Paragraph Five: Mention is made of FNP’s walking tracks.
Paragraph Six: The extent of Mount Aspiring National Park (MtANP) and its diversity is described.
Paragraph Seven: Landscape features of MtANP are discussed along with historical references.
Paragraph Eight: Access and biological features of MtANP are described.
Management of both parks is summarised. Conclusion: Management of both parks is outlined
You have completed the Construct the essay section of the module. You should now understand more about the following:
Essay structure
• introduction
• body text
• conclusion
Paragraph structure
• topic sentence
• explanation
• example
Grammar and style
• Active and passive voice – prefer the active
• Verbs and nouns – prefer verbs
• Coherence – move from general to specific, old to new, simple to complex
• Emphasis – place your strongest point towards the end
• Empty subject – avoid beginning sentences with words such as ‘it’ and ‘this’
• Language use – consider academic tone, audience and use of inclusive language
• Performance errors – proofread carefully
• How useful is the module for your work situation? Explain why it is or isn't, and how you would use it.
The module is very useful for essay writing for beginning students in the Bachelor of Nursing programme. Although some students are school leavers, many mature students have not written a formal essay before or not for many years. Within this group of students are a wide range of abilities and learning styles which the OIL module addresses effectively. The helpful guide takes the writer through all steps of the process from the instruction words that direct the writer to what is required of them to the final summary and conclusion of the process.
Each activity required in the process is identified for example, instruction, content and relationship words directing the writer as to how to identify the ‘how what and why’ of writing the essay.
As we teach and nurture students in essay writing at the beginning of the Bachelor of Nursing programme, the OIL module is extremely helpful and completely user friendly. The module reinforces the steps in the essay writing process and gives quite clear descriptions and prompts when the responder has identified the correct response to questions e.g. “Identify the instruction words in the topic. Click on them and if you are correct they will highlight”. The word then changes colour to identify a correct answer. There is immediate re-enforcement of correct learning.
• Comment on the look and feel of the module and how 'fit for purpose', or not it is.
The module is entirely user friendly – colourful, well signposted, each signpost has navigational
Properties to expound further the instruction that it describes. It fits the purpose extremely well of introducing the essay writing process to a new writer clearly.
• What sort of changes would you make if customising the module?
The module comprises quite extensive reading and students notoriously don’t want to read and review lengthy instructions and materials. A suggestion would be to shorten the amount of information included and reduce the number of pages required to be read.
Why is evaluation important and how do you define it?
Evaluation requires deciding on the purpose of the evaluation and can involve the following questions and responding appropriately:
Activities in the evaluation process require one to evaluate the design of the module which must include:
1. clear instructions as to what to do and how to navigate and use the course tools and materials e.g. a site map and online support
2. meaningful and engaging activities that will require interaction such as games
3. minimise the amount of text information that the student must work through to achieve their learning goals
The design in this instance requires the learner to work alone and therefore must be explicit to avoid poor understanding and an inability to achieve learning goal. The essay writing OIL module meets all of these requirements.
Which two E-learning Guidelines suit your context?
We have chosen the learner centred and teaching relationships.
We do believe that constructive learning relationships with learners is an important component of effective learner centred learning. For example, Dana remembers that teachers who constructed a positive learning relationship in a welcoming learning environment induced positive learning and a desire to learn more about the topic. Conversely, the opposite is applied when the teacher who was not learner friendly. Dana can simply formulate the following: you love the teacher, you love their topic. What Dana means by “love” is the following:
1. teachers accepting students for who they are
2. teachers making lessons fun
3. teachers having a sense of humour
4. teachers having a thorough grounding in their topic
Tell us how the “evaluate this” exercise went from your perspective?
We believe that the exercise (particularly from the taster) gave us insight into the evaluation process and into the depth of thought required involved.
It was interesting to identify the questions to be asked and to recognize the difference between “formative and summative” evaluation processes.
