My ideal digital learning community would be one where students could submit papers to have other students or teachers assess those papers and provide feedback. I'd call this Open Assess-Me. The site would have a relatively simple interface. Each member would have a profile that had a username and level of education (high school senior, college student, high school teacher, etc.). There would be a place for students to submit papers, either through Word files, Google Drive, or just through a simple photo taken by a phone or document camera. Once the paper was submitted (along with the assignment), other members would be able to see the paper, assess it according to any one of the provided rubrics, or use a rubric specific to the particular assignment. Not only would members be able to give the writer a score, however, but they would also be able to provide constructive feedback to the writer to help him improve his paper and/or writing.
Open Assess-Me would be loosely modeled after Open Study, and the target audience would be high school and college English students. What would set this DLC apart from others would be a feedback checklist that would allow assessors to check off items that apply to the specific paper. The checklist would include basic grammatical feedback such as "A lot is two words" all the way up to more sophisticated feedback such as "you've included the rhetorical fallacy of false dichotomy here." We would write the checklist in a conversational and friendly tone that would allow the student to feel less defensive about receiving criticism on the paper. The feedback checklist would also include positive feedback that praises the student for what he does well: "Your introduction was very effective! It was brief, to the point, and let your reader know exactly what the paper would be about."
Members of this DLC would need to be engaged and motivated, dedicated to the task of improving the writing of both themselves and others. These members would need to exhibit the characteristics of a responsible digital citizen as well; they would have to be shrewd, ethical, and engaged. To bring this idea to fruition, we would first need the help of computer programmers and designers. Once the site was established, we could start with a small group of students and teachers (perhaps at a handful of high schools) and later expand to more schools. If used responsibly, Open Assess-Me could become a valuable tool for students who seek to improve writing skills.
Above: a feedback checklist I've created with the help of the computer science teacher at my school.
For each paper, students receive 1-3 pages of typed feedback specific to their paper.
Open Assess-Me would be loosely modeled after Open Study, and the target audience would be high school and college English students. What would set this DLC apart from others would be a feedback checklist that would allow assessors to check off items that apply to the specific paper. The checklist would include basic grammatical feedback such as "A lot is two words" all the way up to more sophisticated feedback such as "you've included the rhetorical fallacy of false dichotomy here." We would write the checklist in a conversational and friendly tone that would allow the student to feel less defensive about receiving criticism on the paper. The feedback checklist would also include positive feedback that praises the student for what he does well: "Your introduction was very effective! It was brief, to the point, and let your reader know exactly what the paper would be about."
Members would be able to add to the checklist of feedback on Open Assess-Me.
Members of this DLC would need to be engaged and motivated, dedicated to the task of improving the writing of both themselves and others. These members would need to exhibit the characteristics of a responsible digital citizen as well; they would have to be shrewd, ethical, and engaged. To bring this idea to fruition, we would first need the help of computer programmers and designers. Once the site was established, we could start with a small group of students and teachers (perhaps at a handful of high schools) and later expand to more schools. If used responsibly, Open Assess-Me could become a valuable tool for students who seek to improve writing skills.
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