The Evaluation and Assessment of Online Skills Through Online Group Discussion.

Abstract

Increasingly much of a psychology student’s learning occurs within electronic environments, however rarely are the new skills they develop in these contexts identified, improved or assessed. Over the past 5 years, I have addressed this important need (Taylor, 2012) and examples from assessed online student discussions will be presented in this poster to demonstrate an innovative way to develop and assess online skills. These skills were formally assessed using two methods and examples will be provided on the poster. The first method involved tutor marking of online transcripts for evidence of critical thinking, online leadership and effective academic communication. The second method involved students reflecting on their experiences and perceived understanding of the psychology topic as a result of participating in the online discussions. Also, I will present findings from a separate empirical study to evaluate the impacts of shared online reflection on meta-cognitive awareness which employs both quantitative and qualitative methods. The final section of the poster will highlight examples where these new skills can be used to enhance psychology graduate employability in new technological environments. I will be interested to interact with attendees viewing my poster to discuss my techniques and findings and to explore future collaboration.