I thought it might be useful to provide a bit more information about our decision to assess our LAMS Chat sessions.
For a number of years, face-to-face discussions have been used in tutorials in one of our courses (EDUC261) to study the course readings. It was found in any tutorial group of 20 students, only 4-6 students contributed regularly throughout the class discussion. Some others occasionally made a comment but the remainder (the majority) sat quietly. Attempts by the tutors to include “the silent majority” by directing a question specifically to a non-contributor were often met with an embarrassed silence.
It was decided to trial assessing the classroom discussions in an attempt to encourage all students to participate and to read the course readings as the Semester progressed, rather than just before the examination period at the end of the course. The students would then have the benefit of this knowledge throughout the course and enhance their understanding of course lectures.
The difficulty of assessing class discussion was solved when the tutors became aware LAMS being trialled at the university: This made the creation of discussion sequences very straight-forward. An additional advantage of the LAMS Chat facility was that it retains all previous Chat history, hence student’s contributions can be reviewed at any time and formally assessed, if required.
The success of the first LAMS Chat was immediate and significant. All students contributed to the discussions and most were clearly familiar with the readings and able to discuss the issues raised with confidence. The use of the online discussions overcame many students’ reluctance to join in the classroom discussions and avoided them being dominated by a small number of their peers. The use of the technology meant the discussion could accommodate simultaneous small groups and moved the discussion to a student-centred activity.
The quality of this cohort’s work throughout the course and in the final course exam confirmed the use of the online LAMS discussions facilitated student understanding and engagement of the course material.
Posted by Leanne Cameron
