Assessing Students in Online Collaboative Learning

As George Siemens postulates, one of the greatest challenges of educators is to be able to assess students fairly and equitably in collaborative learning. Often students are hesitant about cooperating in collaborative activities due to fear that they will not be graded fairly. This position is mostly held by those students who are considered "high achievers" who have through the traditional model of education acquired their high marks by their sole achievements. 

In the Siemens vodcasts, "Assessment of Collaborative Learning," Siemens presents three models by which students may be assessed:

1. peer assessment through comments and feedback
2. online communities such as listservs
3. educator model-managed by wikis that tracts students contributions and time logged in.

It is important to note that if students feel that their collaborative work constitute only a portion of their grade and that they are given opportunities for individual work, they are more likely to positively participate in collaborative efforts, according to Siemens in his "Learning Communities" vodcast.

I agree that collaborative work should only constitute a portion of the student's grade. The exact percentage is up to the individual educator. There are some students that are new to online collaborative learning and have been use to being graded through the traditional individual model. Therefore, in order to acquire more positive attitudes from these students, educators should present a mixed-model for assessment.