We were pleasantly surprised to see Waypoint (web-based software for creating and using interactive rubrics…find out more here) featured in Bill Vilburg’s LMSPodcast series.
Bill is the Director of Instructional Advancement at the University of Miami, and does in-depth interviews on issues concerning Learning Management Systems. He has ambitiously set out to interview the all of the presenters at this year’s Blackboard World Conference in Las Vegas.
Last week he interviewed Dr. Rosemary Skeele, from Seton Hall University and Dan Driscoll, from Drexel.
All the interviews that Bill does are in-depth and wonderfully paced. The most exciting aspect to the interviews is how little time is spent talking about Waypoint. The interviews are all about the challenges of designing effective peer reviews, leveraging Blackboard and Blackboard Vista, and developing data that is used to improve curricula. Waypoint is just the mechanism.
Peer review, in particular, is an under-utilized tool in education. When done right (just listen to Dan Driscoll’s process) it is a fantastic way for teachers to coach more, grade less, and radically alter students’ relationship with writing. With the release of Blackboard Version 8, there is a window of attention on the subject because v.8 has a rudimentary Likert Scale commenting tool built into it. Since Waypoint was designed from day one with peer review in mind – peer review of any artifact or product – and is based on sound composition and pedagogical theory, we look forward to an increased dialogue on the subject.
You can find the podcasts here:
LMS 43 Dan Driscoll, Drexel University
Dan Driscoll uses the Waypoint add-on system to create a peer review system in his first-year composition courses at Drexel. He discusses how he sets up the rubrics and then has the students fill them out. The process of applying the rubric to the papers gves students as much or more value than the feedback given back to the original author. Dan will be presenting “Course-Embedded Assessment and the Peer Review Process” at BbWorld’08, July 15-17.
>> Play the Podcast
LMS 42 Rosemary Skeele, Seton Hall
Rosemary Skeele describes how Seton Hall is using the Waypoint addon for Blackboard to help assess learning, primiarily for accreditation purposes. Waypoint allows you to integrate rubrics into Blackboard and in the process opens new possibilities. Rosemary will be presenting “Blackboard and Waypoint: Perfect Together” at BbWorld’08, July 15-17.
