Synapsys Blog - August 2005

Interface Design Basics

Sometimes, when surfing the ‘Net, you come up with some real gems. And this web page is one of those.

I was searching out new ideas on Designing User Interfaces (namely how to design a page that people feel comfortable using). Of course, I do that every time I create a project, or so I would hope, however, there is always room for improvement. I wouldn’t say this article actually comes up with new ideas, but what it does is clearly focuses on the good ideas. So why is that important?

Well, if you are taking a web site design request to a professional and paying big bucks for the pleasure, you really need to know that what you get back is worth the dollars. This easily written article will give you the background to discuss with the professional exactly what you expect of your site.

Rubrics round every corner

Just when you thought you were catching up with all the jargon to do with assessment and web portfolios, along comes another term to send you scurrying for the dictionary – Rubric.

This term has only relatively recently scrambled out of the Christian churches and insinuated itself into educational circles, however, it was only a matter of time before Rubrics were being touted all over the web.

A rubric is a set of rules of conduct or procedure, and especially referred to conduct or procedure for a Christian service. It has a secondary meaning to do with titles of a book, but its primary meaning has much more application to online assessment and web portfolios. Basically it now means a set of procedures or standards by which a piece of work is judged. It can also set a standard for observed activity, such as “samples show student knowledge of netiquette” or “participated several times a week in the eForum”.

Within New Zealand’s Qualification Framework an Element and its related PCs form a “rubric”. The rubric starts with a clearly defined skill that needs to be demonstrated as learned and/or internalized and then defines the standard that will demonstrate whether that standard has been exceeded, met or has not been met.

A Rubric is written to reflect a certain agreed outcome for a specific assignment. Each class assignment, topic or training session would have a different Rubric with different skills and standards that would demonstrate the level of skill the learner has achieved. Rubrics can be applied across many groups (in much the same way Elements and PCs are supposed to work) to standardize the way different teachers might judge achievement; or they can be applied to work compared between one year’s cohort and the next year’s intake.

The point of real difference is that, unlike NZQA Unit Standards, Rubrics can be written for individuals choosing individual tasks for an assignment. They can be agreed between teacher and learner prior to learning starting. The learner can:
# Define what skills they most want to learn from being in a course.
# Decide on a task that will best demonstrate those skills.
# Work with the teacher to identify what will be an acceptable standard.

The value of such a process is to get buy-in from the learner. Before they start on anything they will have a clear idea on what is the minimum standard they can achieve and how the task they assign themselves will allow them to achieve it. They’re engaged in defining the learning process. The teacher, however, is in for a lot more work prior to a course as they will most likely need to guide the learner toward defining the parameters of the project in order to give learner enough opportunity to demonstrate their skills.

Want to learn more? Then try this site: Kathy Schrock’s Guide for Educators

Distance Instruction in Education

If you’re an academic at one institution and are thinking about setting up a course using Instructional Television, then this article by Saul Carliner may be just what you are looking for. Saul was contracted to teach a course at Crookston Minnesota while based in St Paul’s Minnesota 350km away. He discovered there were a number of issues to consider that would not have been present if he had been delivering even an online course from his own institution.

Said Saul: “To help instructors identify the types of issues they might face when teaching by instructional television, this article identifies 10 general issues in managing an instructional television course. These issues were identified by the author when preparing to teach his first instructional television course at the University of Minnesota (while based on a campus 350 miles away).“

Some of the issues he points out include the actual hardware technology: “Because of the distance between instructors and students, and because of the potential for equipment failures when transmitting information, administration always presents a challenge to distance instructors.”

Saul says that the “differences in academic cultures also result in differences in approaches to academics and in expectations among students”. There is general acceptance of the institution’s requirements about attendance and submission of assignments on time etc. However this changes when a learner is based on another campus.

“For example, students in some institutions regularly attend class without the instructor requiring attendance. In others, students rarely attend without the requirement. Similarly, in some institutions, students regularly turn in late work and professors regularly accept it. In others, professors won't accept it.

“Generally, the prevailing academic culture in the home institution guides the educator in classroom management. But the culture at the home institution might significantly vary from that in other institutions; and those other cultures guide students in their work.”

The article can be read at: Saul Carliner's Web site.