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Fortunately, I do still have a copy of the narrated PowerPoint file that I created, and that video is below.
While reviewing this assignment for my MET portfolio submission, I realized that a lot has changed in the educational technology landscape since I did this assignment. One of those changes is in a movement toward assigning grades based on objectives rather than simply as points. With an objectives-based approach, the objectives for the course are ranked to identify those skills that are essential to the course, and which skills are supplementary. Students who demonstrate that they have met the essential skills receive a C for the course, while students who want a higher grade can complete assignments toward the supplementary objectives.
In large part, this solves the problem of the student who receives a passing grade only because they earned enough points to do so, even if those points are accumulated simply by coming to class and turning work in on time, but without any real demonstration that they have met the course objectives. This is a problem because many of these students are not prepared for the next-level course, and passing them on even when they are not prepared is a formula for failure later down the road.
Another advantage to this approach is that students have more control over the grade they want from the course. Under the current approach toward grades, it is assumed that all students are aiming toward an A, and students who aren't there are somehow failing themselves or failing the instructor, while in reality, the grade of C is supposed to be the average on most grading scales. On the flip-side, though, most courses are designed so that only students who receive an A have really mastered the objectives for the course, so students who receive a C may actually not be ready for the next level course.
Putting too much emphasis on getting As can be stressful to the student who is also working full-time and may have children to care for. There are also many students who truly do believe that a C is "good enough," especially in a general education course that is not particularly interesting too them. A system that requires the student to meet the critical objectives to receive a grade of C will support students better, as well as emphasize the fact that an A should be "Excellent," demonstrating that the student has achieved skills beyond those essential for the class.
If I were to revise my approach to digital literacy as presented in the original blog, I would start by determining what the most essential skills were for the class, and require that students complete the textbook assignments and project assignments that cover those skills, and students who successfully complete all of those assignments would receive a C for the course.
Assignments that cover non-critical skills would be optional. Completing an optional assignment would not make up for failing a required assignment, but those students who want a grade higher than a C would have the choice to do the optional work to that end.
Under this scenario, no student would receive credit for the in-class demonstrations or the training assignments. These activities would be available to students who feel they need them to complete the graded work, but students who don't feel the need to do them would have the option of skipping them.
This would help balance the digital divide between the students who come to the class with a lot of experience with the applications and those who have not used computers very much in the past. The former group of students would have the additional resources available to them, but not the pressure to complete every assignment unless they believe a higher grade is worth the extra effort. The latter group would have the option of skipping the in-class demonstrations and going straight to the assignment, but they would also have the choice of putting in only the time they need to get the grade they want.
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