Nora Carrol (ncarrol@ffinst.com)
Fri, 06 Nov 1998 08:59:06 -0500
Date: Fri, 06 Nov 1998 08:59:06 -0500 From: Nora Carrol <ncarrol@ffinst.com> Subject: [ifets] Re: ifets-digest V1 #43
Cheating has not been a problem in distance-delivered courses I and my company
develop and teach, largely because of collaborative activity and test formats, and
what students are asked to do. Collaborative activities are built around cases,
created scenarios or students' own workplace experiences, and require application
of concepts to theories. Tests follow suit, except that they measure learning in
a closed-book environment. Typically, test questions require essay-type responses
that solve problems and make recommendations--dynamics that discourage cheating as
well as 'ducking' (relying on colleagues' input to slide through). Many
institutions delivering courses through distance technologies require proctoring
of exams to ensure test integrity. Regards, Nora Carrol, president, The First
Forward Institute, Inc.
Visit The First Forward Institute at http://www.ffisnt.com
--------
ifets-digest wrote:
> ifets-digest Friday, November 6 1998 Volume 01 : Number 043
>
> In this issue:
>
> [ifets] assessment issues
> [ifets] Two items
> [ifets] Distance credits and cheating
> Re: [ifets] assessment issues
> RE: [ifets] assessment in distance learning
> [ifets] Two items -Reply
> RE: [ifets] Distance credits and cheating
> [ifets] Global Learn Day II: Choosing Educational Destinies
> [ifets] Design of courses to make cheating less useful to the student
>
> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
> See the end of the digest for information about ifets-digest.
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1998 21:36:28 +0500
> From: j.eklund@uts.edu.au (John Eklund)
> Subject: [ifets] assessment issues
>
> Hello,
>
> I think we should be reminded that assessment via testing is just one form
> of profiling a student, and that these 'new' problems of uneven partners in
> collaborative assessment, cheating on declarative knowledge tests and so
> forth have always been with us, even before computers or online ed. I
> couldn't count how many formulas I've seen written on the inside calculator
> covers! I've used automarked multi-choice tests in TopClass to assess
> low-level knowledge, and they are useful mainly to the student to
> self-assess their progress. I had 10 questions for each of 10 weeks with
> only a 20% weighting, and that's low enough to make it not worthwhile to
> copy answers from each other. Many of the better students like to keep
> their answers to themselves anyway: they get annoyed when others don't come
> to class, or don't contribute to the class, or don't pull their weight in a
> group assessment item. But the kinds of understandings I want to assess are
> those where knowledge is applied to new situations, where opinions of
> others are integrated with their own to create new ideas, or new skills are
> applied to solve problems in innovative ways. I find this is best done by
> individual project or essay (often through learning contract), and by
> discussions. I've tried having the online discussions as assessment
> components too, and I believe it's a good approach, and one where an
> individual's work can easily be seen, but it is a bit difficult to assign a
> worth to a posting or to a series of them. I would be interested to hear if
> and how others use online discussions in their assessment, and more
> generally if they find the quality of the discussions is better than in a
> face to face situation.
>
> Regards,
> John
>
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
> John Eklund
> Faculty of Education
> The University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) ,-_|\
> PO Box 222, Lindfield NSW 2070 Australia / .au \
> phone +61-2-98022029 (H) fax +61-2-95145556 \_,-._/<-Sydney
> http://138.25.75.6/staff/john_eklund/ v
> ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
>
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>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1998 07:34:36 -0800
> From: "jj kerr" <jkerr36@cybertrails.com>
> Subject: [ifets] Two items
>
> This is a multi-part message in MIME format.
>
> - ------=_NextPart_000_0011_01BE088E.BD6BF620
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>
> Please tell us what you do in this field when you=20
> sign in (briefly)
> We are opening a BBS at www.arizona.com very
> shortly and are interested in collaborating with those
> of synergistic interests. Jarvis Kerr, M Ed
>
> - ------=_NextPart_000_0011_01BE088E.BD6BF620
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> charset="iso-8859-1"
> Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable
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> in this field=20
> when you </FONT></STRONG></DIV>
> <DIV><STRONG><FONT color=3D#000000 size=3D2>sign in =
> (briefly)</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
> <DIV><STRONG><FONT color=3D#000000 size=3D2>We are opening a BBS at <A=20
> href=3D"http://www.arizona.com">www.arizona.com</A> =
> very</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
> <DIV><STRONG><FONT color=3D#000000 size=3D2>shortly and are interested =
> in=20
> collaborating with those</FONT></STRONG></DIV>
> <DIV><STRONG><FONT color=3D#000000 size=3D2>of synergistic =
> interests. Jarvis=20
> Kerr, M Ed</FONT></STRONG></DIV></BODY></HTML>
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>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1998 13:41:26 +0000
> From: j.love@napier.ac.uk
> Subject: [ifets] Distance credits and cheating
>
> Distance credits and cheating
>
> I am happy to see some discussion initiated from Alan's letter
> regarding the worry of distance cheating. I sent Alan a reply but
> after reading some of the posting I thought I'd share my thoughts here
> too.
>
> I like the "Claremont Model" and I will suggest it to our Department
> when we get around to discussing distance credit and the problem of
> cheating. Indeed, it is a problem that all distance learning
> institutions must address. Someone (I forget who) posted a rather
> negative response to the Claremont method and made some good
> alternative suggestions, but I don't believe those suggestions solve
> the problem(s).
>
> The Problem
>
> Distance testing makes it easier to cheat! It takes guts to look
> someone in the eye when you turn in someone else's report and say it
> is your own work. Imagine how easy it is to type your "dishonesty" to
> someone you never met. The "depersonalisation" of distance learning
> makes the "crime" easier to commit.(Both emotionally and technically.)
>
> If schools do not have methods to verify that the student earned the
> grade then the value of that institution's degree will be diminished.
> It was suggested that one can get credit on-line via UCLA without all
> the fuss of verification. I don't know about UCLA but they would be
> very foolish to allow that to happen. Indeed, if UCLA gives credit (or
> degrees) without verification of who has earned them, UCLA is going to
> get in a lot of trouble (eventually) from the organisations who
> provide their accreditation. All it takes is someone to abuse that
> trust and the UCLA model will fall apart. (My immediate reaction to
> reading about UCLA's on-line credit is that I will now question any
> UCLA graduate as to exactly how the credit was earned and discount
> their "quality" if the testing was by "trust". Fair? Maybe not, but I
> don't want to hire someone whose only academic achievement may have
> been to pull the wool over UCLA's eyes! And neither will any other
> employer.)
>
>
> Honesty is a great policy but trust is a silly policy. At least with
> regard to accreditation.
>
> Examples I Know That "Work"
>
> Heriot-Watt's MBA program (where I earned my MBA by distance learning)
> forces the student to get his/her entire grade through a single
> "sitted exam" for each of 9 courses. It costs to set up the exam, but
> they do it to keep it "honest". However, a single exam for each
> course/grade sure puts a lot of pressure on the student! (Phew!)
>
> The Open University (where I am now a student) uses "we trust you
> methods" (home tests and projects) plus a single "sitted exam". That
> takes the pressure off the students (a bit) but it also means that the
> way the grades are sliced between "sitted" and "nonsitted" scores
> makes for an interesting mix. Going into my sitted exam I had enough
> points accumulated from my "home assessments" that I needed only 30%
> to pass! Naturally that would have sent off alarm bells at the Open
> University ("Why did he get a 30% on the final exam but was pulling
> 80's and 90's from the home assessments? Hmm.") Whether the University
> would have had the courage to really question such a disparity is
> arguable.
> The Open University "homework" is very specific to the course and
> takes a great deal of time to complete. (I put about 8 hours into each
> of my 4 home tests for a single course.) I would have had to hire a
> "ringer" (in this case a computer science graduate) to do the work for
> me and it would have cost me a fortune! Great disincemtive unless you
> have lots of money.
>
>
> Solution and Conclusion
>
> Ultimately, I think distance learning programs (delivered by the
> internet, or snailmail, etc.) will have to arrange that their
> student's go to a testing center (school) and sit the exam(s) in
> person. The value of home assessments should be structured such that
> failure on the "sitted exam" would outweigh the scores accumulated
> from "home assignments".
> Perhaps, each distance program will arrange to have an official
> testing company do the work for them using tests that the school
> provides. Each year there are "distance" tests given in every major
> city. (MCATs, SAT, GREs, just to name the obvious American ones. I
> think they are run by ETS.) Arrangements could be made but it will
> cost. Indeed, I see verified testing procedures as the most costly
> part of developing a distance learning program because these costs do
> not fall (much) as enrollment increases (Unlike the development costs
> of producing the distance learning materials.)
>
> The worry is that if we (distance teachers) allow cheating to occur,
> it will. Not excessively but enough to hurt distance learning (in
> general). It wouldn't be hard for an "investigative reporter" ("60
> Minutes" investigating UCLA or "Cook Report" investigating the Open U)
> to stir up a lot of trouble by posing as a student and fraudulently
> receiving credit (perhaps even a certificate or degree). What a great
> news story!
>
> Alan, good luck in your research into this. (You've opened a can of
> worms!) I look forward to reading your report.
>
> Sincerely,
>
> Jamie
> - ---------------------------------------------------------
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>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1998 15:00:42 +0000
> From: Martin Owen <t.m.owen@bangor.ac.uk>
> Subject: Re: [ifets] assessment issues
>
> John Eklund writes:
> I've tried having the online discussions as assessment
> >components too, and I believe it's a good approach, and one where an
> >individual's work can easily be seen, but it is a bit difficult to assign a
> >worth to a posting or to a series of them.
>
> I mark regular undergraduate essays in areas which are vaguely social
> science. These essays by theior nature have a degree of subjectivity in
> their marking, although time honoured peer review of my marking, and that
> fact my colleagues eem to get the same students in the same rank order
> gives some confidence in the process.
>
> I am explict to students about criteria:
> They must cover and present the "obvious arguments" and demonstrate
> knowledge of the significant and well known research on a topic.
> To get higher marks they must evaluate the arguments, possibly drawing on a
> wider range of resources, but certainly presenting a deeper reading what is
> available.
> To get higher marks still I expect there to be some synthesis of reading
> and discussion and research beyond the "obvious"
> To get higher marks I would expect the student to identify problems and
> suggest new way forwards.
>
> This is not the complete picture but sufficient to illustrate the point.
>
> I expect the same things to happen in the course of reflecetive discussion
> on-line. You might ask... "what if the quick student hogs and presents the
> best arguments thus eliminating others from contributing that stuff??" The
> answer is to provide some structure to the debate. Make provision for all
> to write personal summaries , make provision for all to ask and answer
> questions.
>
> I offer some examples ( at a temporary site) at:
> http://rem.bangor.ac.uk/~martin_owen/struct.html
>
> Martin
>
> Martin Owen
> T.M.Owen@bangor.ac.uk
> Director, Project REM
>
> School of Education Yr Ysgol Addysg
> University of Wales, Bangor Prifysgol Cymru, Bangor
> Normal Site Safle'r Normal
> Holyhead Rd Ffordd Caergybi
> Bangor Bangor
> Gwynedd
> LL57 2PX
>
> Voice/Llais +44 1248 382 943
> Fax/Ffacs +44 1248 38 36 40
> URL: http://weblife.bangor.ac.uk/rem/rem.html
> REM is a EC DGXIII Telematics Education and Training Project
> - ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> "Technology is nothing more or less than a natural phase of the creative
> process which engaged man from the moment he forged his first tool and
> began to transform the world for its humanization"
>
> Paulo Freire : Cultural Action for Freedom
> - -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1998 19:39:27 +0100
> From: D.K.Taylor@open.ac.uk
> Subject: RE: [ifets] assessment in distance learning
>
> I have been following the discussion about cheating in distance
> assessment and thought I'd respond to Alfred's invitation.
>
> Alfred Bork wrote:
>
> Several recent articles have raised the question of assessment
> in
> distance learning, worrying about the problem of cheating.
>
> This problem has long been addressed by the UK Open University.
> Perhaps
> someone from there would like to describe their procedures.
>
> At the Open University we reduce the likelihood of cheating in a number
> of ways. The integrity of the assessment process is considered of
> critical importance so most courses (except some project and first level
> courses) have both a continuous assessment element and an unseen,
> invigilated examination, which *both* have to be passed in order to gain
> an overall pass for the course. On courses without such an examination,
> tutors have to verify that the work is the student's own, usually
> through mandatory face-to-face contact. Compulsory random viva-voce
> examinations may also be used in course assessment strategies. More
> details below:
> Continuous assessment:
> All students are allocated to a (usually) local, part-time tutor, and
> during the year they typically write 4 Tutor Marked Assignments (TMAs)
> for a 30 point course and 6-8 TMAs for a 60 point credit course. Each
> TMA is marked by their tutor and forwarded to a central office where the
> scores and other assignment details are recorded on the students'
> assessment record (on computer), a copy of the covering form taken for
> record keeping and a sample taken for monitoring purposes (virtually all
> tutors are monitored by a senior member of academic staff reviewing
> their marking on each set of assignments to ensure that they are not too
> lenient or harsh in their marking, and that they are giving a good level
> of feedback comments to the students). The tutors also hold evening
> tutorials for students, so usually get to know many of their students
> and get a feel for their level of ability. Where it occurs, plagiarism
> or collusion may be spotted by the tutor, as the TMAs are usually marked
> as a batch, or possibly by the monitor. Computer Marked Assignments
> (multiple choice questions with answers entered onto an Optical Mark
> Reader form) are used much less frequently and usually have a much lower
> weighting than TMAs. They also have an absolute cut-off date after which
> they are rejected as it is much easier to cheat on such forms of
> assessment.
> NB We are also using a system where TMAs are submitted electronically
> and marked on-screen by tutors using a marking tool (specially written
> software), then returned to the system which records the scores
> automatically and returns the TMA to the student by e-mail or via a web
> download page.
> Examinations:
> Virtually all OU courses have an invigilated examination (except some
> project and first level courses). This means that this October the
> University organised examinations for approximately 140,000 students on
> approximately 350 different courses at examination centres all over the
> world. In the UK we have examination centres in most of the main cities
> and towns and for overseas students exams are organised at a range of
> venues (often local colleges). All of the examinations are fully
> invigilated and the scripts are sealed into security envelopes after the
> examination and returned to the OU. They are then logged in, sent to
> scriptmarkers, the scores input into computer records, standardisation
> changes made or re-marks done if scriptmarkers were found to be too
> harsh.
> Award of Results:
> The continuous assessment scores and the examination scores are
> conflated together by the computer and computer printouts are presented
> to Award Boards containing all of the assessment details (we have
> courses with 6,000-7,000 students on them so this is the only way it can
> be done). The computer printouts also flag up various items e.g. where
> the student has submitted "special circumstances" information relating
> to factors which have affected their study, and where there is a
> particularly large difference between the continuous assessment and
> examination scores for a particular student (i.e. greater than 30
> marks). These can then be investigated if the Award Board so wishes. The
> Award Board can also ask a student to take a viva-voce examination to
> gain more information about their abilities. Any changes made by the
> Award Boards are then recorded and the results are issued.
> It is crucial to note though, that there are pass thresholds for *both*
> the continuous assessment *and* the examination so students have to pass
> both separately - a high score in the continuous assessment will *not*
> counteract a low exam score. Thus students have to have a sufficient
> grasp of the course concepts to be able to pass an unseen, invigilated
> examination (where their identity is checked) in order to pass the
> course.
> Courses without an examination ensure some form of verification by tutor
> that the student's work is their own. This is usually done through
> mandatory face-to-face contact and/or compulsory random viva-voce
> examinations. Projects are double marked, usually once by the student's
> tutor, who will usually flag up if they think that the work is not the
> student's own. Viva voce examinations can be used by Award Boards to
> ensure that the work is the student's.
> Hope this is informative, if long, contribution!
>
> Regards,
>
> Dean Taylor
> Learning Technologies and Teaching Office
> (until recently an administrator in the Examinations & Assignments
> Section)
>
> d.k.taylor@open.ac.uk
> Tel: +44 (0)1908 655518
>
> - ---------------------------------------------------------
> Forum website: http://ifets.gmd.de/
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>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 05 Nov 1998 19:16:13 +0000
> From: Fred Garnett <FGA@staff.lewisham.ac.uk>
> Subject: [ifets] Two items -Reply
>
> Jarvis,
> what will the sub-directory be called?
> I have visited www.arizona.com already!
> thanks
> fred
>
> >>> "jj kerr" <jkerr36@cybertrails.com> 5/November/1998 03:34pm >>>
> Please tell us what you do in this field when you
> sign in (briefly)
> We are opening a BBS at www.arizona.com very
> shortly and are interested in collaborating with those
> of synergistic interests. Jarvis Kerr, M Ed
> - ---------------------------------------------------------
> Forum website: http://ifets.gmd.de/
> Email address for sending message to everyone on the list ifets@gmd.de
> Forum's contact person ifets-info@gmd.de
> Join/Leave Digest or Normal List http://ifets.gmd.de/maillist.html
> - ---------------------------------------------------------
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1998 20:08:33 +0100
> From: D.K.Taylor@open.ac.uk
> Subject: RE: [ifets] Distance credits and cheating
>
> Jamie Love wrote:
>
> The Open University (where I am now a student) uses "we trust you
> methods" (home tests and projects) plus a single "sitted exam".
> That
> takes the pressure off the students (a bit) but it also means that
> the
> way the grades are sliced between "sitted" and "nonsitted" scores
> makes for an interesting mix. Going into my sitted exam I had
> enough
> points accumulated from my "home assessments" that I needed only
> 30%
> to pass!
>
> I'm not sure what course you are studying Jamie, but I think that there
> is a misunderstanding of the assessment strategy. As in my previous
> message I would emphasize that the continuous assessment scores do NOT
> counteract the examination score. You have to pass both separately in
> order to achieve an overall pass. If you want some clarification of the
> assessment strategy of your course contact me at the address below.
>
> Naturally that would have sent off alarm bells at the Open
> University ("Why did he get a 30% on the final exam but was pulling
>
> 80's and 90's from the home assessments? Hmm.") Whether the
> University
> would have had the courage to really question such a disparity is
> arguable.
>
> Such a large difference would be flagged up to the Award Board, but
> substantial differences are not uncommon between scores for assignments
> where students can use all manner of reference materials and have time
> to structure and complete the work as they wish, and the work produced
> in a pressurised examination environment. Much depends on the person,
> their particular circumstances, way of working, abilities and special
> circumstances on the day!
>
> The Open University "homework" is very specific to the course and
> takes a great deal of time to complete. (I put about 8 hours into
> each
> of my 4 home tests for a single course.) I would have had to hire a
>
> "ringer" (in this case a computer science graduate) to do the work
> for
> me and it would have cost me a fortune! Great disincemtive unless
> you
> have lots of money.
>
> The OU regards Tutor Marked Assignments (TMAs) as an important teaching
> tool as well as an assessment tool. The learning process which occurs
> during the writing of assignments and the feedback provided by tutors on
> TMAs are considered to be extremely important elements of the teaching
> process.
>
> Ultimately, I think distance learning programs (delivered by the
> internet, or snailmail, etc.) will have to arrange that their
> student's go to a testing center (school) and sit the exam(s) in
> person.
>
> I think that this is true for robust and credible assessment, although
> there is some experimentation going on with setting up a system for
> releasing an examination paper to students on-line at a given time and
> then the system saving the work and preventing any further work being
> done at the end of the examination period. This system is not currently
> in use, and has many problems to overcome (e.g. credible invigilation,
> cut & pasting in work done previously etc) before it could be.
>
> Regards,
>
> Dean Taylor
> (in personal capacity)
>
> d.k.taylor@open.ac.uk
> Tel: +44 (0)1908 655518
>
> - ---------------------------------------------------------
> Forum website: http://ifets.gmd.de/
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> - ---------------------------------------------------------
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Thu, 5 Nov 1998 19:45:23 +0100 (MET)
> From: Arun-Kumar Tripathi <tripathi@amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de>
> Subject: [ifets] Global Learn Day II: Choosing Educational Destinies
>
> Hi IFETS Forum Members,
>
> For two days in November, 84 of the most savvy and powerful providers of
> educational course materials for distance learning will come together in
> a massive global display of interconnectivity. Their message is clear:
> ignorance is becoming a matter of personal choice.
>
> November 2, 1998
> For Immediate Release
> Global Learn Day II: Choosing Educational Destinies
>
> WELLINGTON, NEW; ZEALAND -- Send your mind forward to
> Sunday, November 8th. It is 7 a.m. in New Zealand and Mark Blumsky, the
> mayor of Wellington, checks his watch; then returns to editing his
> opening remarks. At that same moment in places scattered between the
> North and South Poles where it is simultaneously morning, noon, and
> evening, several hundred men and women are moving into position in media
> centers in 37 countries. In three hours Mayor Blumsky will officiate at
> the opening ceremonies of the largest Webcast ever: Global Learn Day II.
> In all, 200 countries have registered to serve or participate in GLD2's
> Internet extravaganza.
>
> JUNCTION CITY, KANSAS, November 7th -- At the very moment that
> Blumsky falls to polishing his talk, on the other side of the
> International Date Line where it is Saturday, Vaudene Field is making
> last-minute adjustments among the 70 musical selections that she has
> chosen. Classic pipe organist Field is the music director charged with
> supplying three hours of thematic music during the 30-hour Webcast. Each
> time GLD2 voyagers move to a new harbor, a selection attuned
> to that culture will serve as traveling music.
>
> LONDON, ENGLAND -- In this capital city, where it's nearing
> midnight, Eric Baber is filing last-minute scheduling updates to the GLD2
> Voyage Time Table. A panel discussion leader as well, Baber is doubly
> tasked -- and loves every minute of the work.
>
> ABU DHABI, UNITED ARAB EMIRATES-- Neil Hynd rises at 3 a.m. to
> review a presentation he will give on his lunch break. Sunday is a normal
> workday in the Arab world. A perfectionist, Hynd studies the colorful Web
> site that his team has built in order to celebrate Culture and
> Education with a world hungry for knowledge. Hynd smiles as he
> knows that at this very minute his counterpart in Cairo, Sherif Kamel, is
> undoubtedly at a console fussing with Web pages that focus on "The
> World of Learning in the Next Millennium.
>
> BOULDER, COLORADO -- Just off the phone with Vaudene Field, John
> Hibbs presides over GLD2's mission control" located deep
> inside the headquarters of the VStream corporation. Director of the
> Benjamin Franklin Institute of Global Education, he's up from San Diego
> State University and is in the process of impressing his will on ranks of
> computers before him. Like that long-distance runner of telethons, Jerry
> Lewis, Hibbs will be emceeing the proceedings round the clock. Stride for
> stride with the sun, he will escort passengers around the world, taking
> them from a Guam ship christening by way of the on the French Riviera, to
> millennium forecasting in Cairo, to Hermitage visiting in St. Petersburg,
> Russia, On this day, Hibbs will weave together his miracle tapestry of
> Man helping Man.
>
> While Hibbs frets, beside him an aura of professional calm has settled
> over Sam Moore, operations manager of VStream, the webcaster giant Cisco
> selected to help Hibbs take his message to the world. VStream will gather
> all of the pictures and sounds from the linked continents, compress them
> into easily conveyed packets. Moore's task, among others, is to make it
> possible for viewers in Mozambique to hear presenters in Mongolia.
>
> Hibbs picks up a ringing telephone and tells a radio reporter calling
> from Perth that in three hours he can see and hear it all at
> http://www.bfranklin.edu/
> can tell your listeners that in a nutshell, Global Learn Day is about how
> anyone in Boston can take courses from teachers in Bombay. We have the
> complete schedule online at
> http://www.bfranklin.edu/timetable.htm
>
> Turning to Moore, he asks, Sam, have you heard from Peru yet?
>
> After a year of work and unstinting contributions from hundreds of
> volunteers, John Hibbs is about to energize his world-spanning
> network.
>
> During the 30-hour Webcast, GLD2 will cover a lot of geography. Organized
> like a world cruise, Hibbs' team members all carry nautical titles such
> as harbor masters (the producers of the individual segments that are to be
> aired at each venue), afterguard (similar to those tacticians that group
> themselves around the captain of a racing yacht), theater commanders (who
> organized the resources within the five participating continents), and
> crew (individuals like the person who oversees their email robot services,
> e.g., japan@mailrobot.com). More nautical yet, the major venues are
> called harbors and the shorter stops along the way are skiff visits
> (as in Men, put the skiff over the side, I'm going ashore briefly).
>
> When the starting gun sounds, the entire enterprise will set off in its
> virtual clipper, the Franklin, and begin sailing from Guam
> to Honolulu the long way around. Scheduled are 70-minute stops in 21
> harbors : New Zealand, Japan, China, India, Abu Dhabi, South
> Africa, Egypt, Austria, Netherlands, Russia, England, Brazil, Peru,
> Mexico, Canada, Maine, New York, Oklahoma, Texas, California, finally
> dropping anchor" in Hawaii. The skiff will be lowered for runs
> into Antarctica, Outback Australia, Mongolia, Mozambique, Malta, Cyprus,
> Palestine, Ukraine, Estonia, Albania, Cuba, and the Channel Islands off
> California.
>
> At each port-of-call, there will be real-time audio and video
> presentations from host institutions representing the world's leading
> distance education providers (e.g., University of South Africa in
> Pretoria).
>
> As one looks at the Internet-driven changes coming to the fore and the
> need for the even greater changes that must occur in a world intent on
> reinventing education, the human dimension begins to express itself.
> Oddly enough, one of the strongest statements along this line comes from
> a non-virtual tall ship that is today working its way through some 50
> ports in 25 countries.
>
> Reports Captain Dan Moreland from the deck of the 180-foot, three-masted,
> square-rigged barque Picton Castle http://www.picton-castle.com now under
> way in the Indian Ocean, We recently visited an island in
> the South Pacific on which the highest point of land is called 'The
> Mountain.' We left the schoolteachers there with educational materials
> that cover such topics as El Nino, global warming, and the threatened
> one-meter rise of the world's oceans. On this island 'The Mountain' is 20
> feet high. Think what that rise in ocean level means to this village. For
> them, distance learning in the rest of the world should have begun 100
> years ago.
>
> After 18,000 miles, we've hand-delivered thousands of lesson plans, wall
> charts, CDs, pamphlets and calendars from the deck of a 19th-century
> sailing vessel. Great stuff! But our delivery system is a bit slow in the
> world of satellite communications -- in a world on the verge of going
> post-Gutenberg. Consequently, I see the Picton Castle as a
> symbol of the past that points to the future.
>
> In fact, we're already involved in bringing the future on board. When we
> arrive in the Seychelle Islands, a four-person education team from the
> innovative group, Tidal Passages (http://www.tidalpassages.com), will
> come aboard. For six months, they will be sending back exciting programs
> to some 600 schools throughout the world from Zanzibar, Cape Town,
> Brazil, over a dozen islands in the Caribbean, and all the way back to
> Nova Scotia. That's as exciting as life get for a deep-ocean voyager like
> me.
>
> How far off is that future day for everyone else?
>
> Consider this. Today there are more than 100,000 courses offered online
> from hundreds of accredited universities worldwide. That number will grow
> to one million in the next 18 months. The number of universities offering
> full-degree programs obtainable without ever setting foot on a campus
> exceeds one hundred, many of which offer full post-graduate and even
> doctorate programs.
>
> In addition to illuminating visits to foreign capitals, the GLD2 program
> includes five panel discussions:Teaching English as a Foreign
> Language (led by Dr. Eric Baber, who teaches English from London to
> students in China); Access & Disabilities -- New Ramps with New
> Tools -- No One Gets Left Behind (Dr. Norm Coombs, a blind history
> professor); K-1 to K-99 -- Lifetime Learning Is What the 21st
> Century Is All About (Dr. Cliff Layton, Online Director at Rogers
> State University); Appropriate Technology -- Affordable
> Access (Mr. Roger Boston, the world's leading authority with
> respect to the tools available to deliver education from anyplace to
> anywhere); Globalization -- High Octane Discussions about
> Education, Business and Politics (Dr. Neil Hynd, a brilliant
> expatriate Englishman who provides 21st century training in management
> techniques).
>
> The organizers are using leading-edge technology to Webcast this event so
> that it can be viewed by anyone with a recent version Netscape or
> Explorer browser, an ordinary computer, and a 14.4 modem. They have the
> capacity to hold this event so that as many as 100,000 viewers may
> interactively participate. (Some individuals may have to download a free
> copy of RealAudio from http://www.realaudio.com/
>
> In his Boulder command post, John Hibbs drops the phone back into its
> cradle.
>
> That was Cys Bronner at World without Borders
> (http://worldwithoutborders.com). The chatroom looks great. It should.
> They put 200 plus hours getting ready for us." he exclaims to a room
> crowded with technicians. Turning to Sam Moore, his operations manager,
> he says, O.K. Heads up. We are five minutes and counting. Who's got
> Guam? Who's got Texas? Who's got Wellington? Who's got Cannes? Four
> minutes and counting..
>
> It is always five minutes to curtain time for someone, somewhere, but
> we've been privileged with a backstage look at a critical moment in the
> history of human learning. However, unlike so many unwitting witnesses,
> we can at least say that we walked into a new future with our eyes wide
> open.
>
> For further information contact:
> John W. Hibbs
> Director, Benjamin Franklin Institute of Global Education
> Tel/Fax 619 230 0212
> 2529 Front Street
> San Diego, CA 92103
> http://www.bfranklin.edu/
> For the GLDII VoyageTimetable, visit
> http://www.oltraining.com/GLD2/toc.html
> music visit http://www.jc.net/~penfield/gld2/music.html
>
> Thanks for Listening,
>
> Kind Regards
> Arun
>
> - ------------------------------------------------------------------------
> ARUN KUMAR TRIPATHI,c/o Braun,Luetgenholthauser Strasse 99
> 44225,Dortmund,Germany EDUCATOR: WEB SITE REVIEW WRITER
> My short bio at http://www.bfranklin.com/gld98/tripathi.htm
> Volunteer cum List Manager on Global Learn Day II Project
> Join GLD-II Ship at http://www.bfranklin.com/gld98/contents.htm
> Internet in Education: http://www.gsh.org/wce/archives/tripathi.htm
> E-mail: <tripathi@amadeus.statistik.uni-dortmund.de>
> Research Scholar Internet Search Expert
> Department of Statistic EDRESOURCE Listserv Moderator
> University Of Dortmund Internet Information Investigator
> - ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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> ------------------------------
>
> Date: Fri, 6 Nov 1998 09:01:27 +1300
> From: "Barnes, Don" <D.J.Barnes@massey.ac.nz>
> Subject: [ifets] Design of courses to make cheating less useful to the student
>
> I have been following the debate on "cheating" as a lurker for some time.
> It seems to me that by using a system like Webct where you can monitor
> student activity and where you can include regular small assignments a
> significant number of which have to be completed and submitted you can
> provide a system which makes it hardly worthwhile for a student to find
> someone else to do the course for them. Some of the assignments would be
> selected randomly based on the student's PIN or ID number and made
> compulsory. The student should be required to have accessed the system on a
> regular basis and completed - even if not marked as such, a minimum number
> of the example exercises in the form of tutorials.
>
> I am not a proponent of the systems whereby you have to complete a certain
> set of exercises in a given module before you can move on to the next. I
> have always found this an incredibly frustrating exercise if you enter a
> course with signficant knowledge but have to complete a series of trivial
> exercises before you can get on with real learning. Therefore, I would be
> against structuring a couse in this way but would allow student's choice on
> at what level and when they took the "compulsory" exercises and these would
> be of a comprehensive nature testing a wide range of understanding and
> capability. The objective would be to see that the student was capable of
> integrating the skills learn't and applying them to a new situation or a
> problem solving exercise.
>
> We have been working this way with an internal course, gradually moving away
> from the traditional memory tests. The examinations are already open book
> and open computer, which provides a challenge in setting questions which are
> different from last years, for example, since students may take past
> examinations and the model answers for those papers. We have introduced
> relatively realistic assignments which are challenging and which are not
> linear in their solution. They happen to be statistical analysis exercises
> with computer simulation. Student evaluation of the course now gives it a
> high rating even though it never has been a popular course.
>
> No anti-cheating system that I have seen is 100% foolproof, but it seems to
> me that we can minimise the risk - even on line.
>
> Professor D J Barnes
> Professor Manufacturing and Quality System
> Institute of Technology and Engineering
> Massey University
> Private Bag 11222
> Massey University
> Palmerston North
> New Zealand
>
> Telephone +64 6 350 5264
> Fax +64 6 350 5604
> Email D.J.Barnes@massey.ac.nz
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