Overview
A virtual workplace
| The team at WestOne, Western Australia developed a Retail Toolbox, designed for a younger learner. Their assessment tasks included a virtual workplace, collaborative tasks via the discussion group and workplace based tasks. Here is an edited interview with Louise Housden, the project manager. |
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Main role in online assessment
Online assessment approach
Challenges
Success factors
Rear view mirror
Main role in online assessment
I was part of a team, I wasn’t doing it on my own. So I was involved in all stages of the project - planning, analysis for assessment, design of the assessment tools, developing the assessment tools and evaluating them. When we’d finished and it became commercially available then we started delivering it.
The project took place in 1999/2000 which, in the context of online teaching/assessment, was a very, very long time ago. I’m now managing the “reworking” of the Retail Toolbox and many of the things we identified in hindsight (see Rear View Mirror) are being implemented in the new version. Hopefully current developers might benefit from what we’ve learned from our experiences.
Online assessment approach
I think it’s important to mention up front that we were developing a resource which included aspects of online assessment, not a completely online teaching and assessment resource.
We broke each unit down into the performance criteria, and designed around that structure (from an outside perspective you wouldn’t have noticed it was done this way). So a unit might have had ten activities and each activity had several tasks in it. Generally each task would cover one or more elements of competence within that performance criteria. The learner had to submit a piece of work basically to cover each performance criteria of the unit as they worked their way through.
Generally we were designing for a younger learner and someone who was not necessarily all that well motivated study-wise or career-wise, really because it is only Cert I and II.
- A lot of tasks required them to go out either in a retail workplace or in the local shopping centre rather than sitting and writing out a checklist.
- There was the option to do it either in a virtual workplace which was provided within the Toolbox, or their own workplace.
- We designed a fair number of collaborative tasks via the discussion group, thinking that might be attractive to that particular age group and type of learner.
- We tried to keep it pretty simple, lots of pre-formatted checklists, not a lot of writing.
Challenges
Engaging the target audience
The main challenge really was the target audience:
- how to keep them interested
- how to have them deliver something we could use as an assessment without it being too intimidating
- finding the balance between a challenging task and an impossible task.
Addressing all performance criteria
- deciding on the number of assessments - how much is enough evidence
and how much is gratuitous task-doing just for the sake of it.
Success factors
Even thought we were new at developing online resources and have learned
a lot since this project, a number of factors contributed to the success
of this product. It:
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gives full coverage – every performance criteria is covered
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is a complete “do-it-yourself” kit
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is motivating, challenging, but not too hard – we managed to find the balance
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is contextualised in the workplace, and realistic
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provides a variety of tasks.
Rear view
What would we not do again?
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Not make so many assumptions about the type of learner.
We assumed that the retail training package would attract the same sort of learner we get at TAFE – younger people who are not well motivated study-wise or career-wise. When we actually started running the course we found that more adults were attracted to it, more independent learners. I think we over compensated a little as it was not a real adult learning environment that we had created. - Not take such a pedantic approach, but rather a more holistic one.
What would we do differently?
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Take the smaller tasks and incorporate them into projects
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Use a portfolio approach
What would we continue to do?
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Keep the virtual workplace settings
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Put a lot of effort into the teacher’s guide – ensure it is as supportive as it can be
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Keep the sense of fun.
