Online College Course Forum

Once again the weekend, and this weekend I'm starting a paper for my online degree. Because I'm working at home, my cats have decided that they are going to help me. I have papers spread around the table which they are walking over, and from time to time they put their noses down and sniff cautiously. If they are satisfied that that particular paper is reasonably benign, they deign to read a few words, to make sure it's up the standard it should be to be included in my work.

When I come to start work on my PC, they sit on my knee and occasionally put a paw on the keyboard to add their contribution to my work. It's obvious to anyone that I will not be able to submit work of a sufficient standard without this intervention, so they are completely laid back about how and when they do this.

After a couple of hours, they've had enough and go and play with each other, chasing in and out of the garden through the cat-flap. They then decide that they need to have my full attention, and that if I haven't done everything I should today, then it's because I'm really not up to their required standard, and I'll have to finish anyway.

When I am finally awarded my online degree, I'm well aware that they will expect to see their names on the award as well as mine.

My online unit had a work-group looking at online assessments for online programs today. Online assessments have some difficulties in certain circumstances, as invigilation is difficult, although not impossible, and for some assessments marking is not online.

In fact we came up with some really different ideas, including using webcams, desktop mirroring and some other ideas. We also considered some new ideas for multi-choice examinations - they often seem to be easy, but if you design them carefully they can be very effective, and not open to guesswork.

Assessment is a vital part of any educational program, and online programs are little different from any other. Using the tools available online, and with a little imagination, assessment can be as effective online as by traditional methods.

I've started to look at the ways in which we can better link online programs to some of the web 2.0 pakages, for instance MySpace. We already do some of the hosting using GMail storage, so we are looking for other suitable applications.

I'm fascinated by what is on offer at the moment, packages such as Google spreadsheeting and Writely. These pared-down packages are so attractive to people who simply need the basic functions of an application, and with much desktop software costing large sums of money, they look increasingly attractive.

The problem is that most of them rely on having a good reliable broadband link, and although most people can get access, reliability can be a problem, and in some places accessing real broadband can be difficult too. Still, this is early days in this kind of development, and I bet that in a couple of years we will see software acquision being a completely different kettle of fish.

Today my online learning unit was asked to build a virtual car. This idea came from a bright idea that one of the learning material designers had to build a virtual coffee machine for the catering department. Their coffee machine parts were beginning to wear out because students took the machine apart and put it together so many times. We produced the virtual coffee machine and the students loved it.

Now, the automotive department wants a virtual car. Not quite the same problem, but it works on the same idea - students get to know the principles of deconstruction and reconstruction without having to touch parts, and therefore have a sound idea of the machine. However, a car is such a complex machine that it will take us some time to do this, along with the necessary documentation for staff, students and program maintenance. So we are constructing the elements of a car bit by bit, and within around a year we should have a virtual car. A great way to put in practical exercises in an online program.