Online reading assignment question: questions/comments (CAE@astrolrner readers, August 2010)

(Analysis of results reported in "Old Ideas, New Technologies--Harnessing the Power of Web 2.0 Resources for the Weary Instructor" workshop given at the Astronomy Society of the Pacific Cosmos in the Classroom National Symposium on Teaching Astronomy for Non-Science Majors, August 2, 2010, 3:15-4:15 PM, Session A in Eaton 1B80, University of Colorado, Boulder, CO.)

Readers of the Center for Astronomy Education: Improving Astronomy Education CAE@astrolrner listserv were asked to complete a post-workshop assignment (hosted by SurveyMonkey.com).

Ask the workshop facilitator an anonymous question, or make a comment regarding use of SurveyMonkey.com (or similar online survey sites) for online reading assignments.

CAE@astrolrner listserv reader responses (presenter responses in italics)
August 2010

I'd be interested in finding out how people use survey sites for READING assignments to learn content. Survey sites are for soliciting OPINIONS of people while reading assignments should be for presenting factual information (so information flow is in opposite direction from that of a survey site).

The use of SurveyMonkey as a reading assignment tool is to compile responses from students answering simple background questions (e.g., "Which type of star has a longer lifetime--low-mass, medium-mass, massive?") before coming to class.

I think it would be great to tell folks why you need the words clumped together. If you could teach us something there about the techniques/tools you are using.

The words are clumped together (e.g., "blackholes") such that they will appear next to each other in the resulting wordle, rather than appearing separately ("black" and "holes") in different parts of the wordle.

I haven't done that much in terms of online surveys, but this plus the conference have started me thinking about it!

This is a great tool but I can also do surveys directly in my course management system (D2L). I will try these in the fall. Thanks for introducing the idea!

I wasn't able to get to the workshop: how much work is "lightly editing" material before it goes to wordle? And is there any particular advantage to using SurveyMonkey as opposed to the course mgmt s/w we already use?

"Light editing" usually amounts to consolidating singular/plural usage ("blackhole" vs. "blackholes"), or synonyms or closely related terms ("stellarformation" vs. "starbirth") in order to maximize the incidence of that term, so it will appear larger in the wordle.

What are the top three informational content items about space that you'd like your students to take from your class and keep in mind as general information for all citizens about the large scale environment?

1. Science (in the guise of astronomy) is comprehensible, and not to be feared.
2. Our place in the universe, and how things got to be the way there are now.
3. How do we know what we know?

How does the use of SurveyMonkey compare with quiz functions in course management systems (e.g., Blackboard)

Students do not need an account to access SurveyMonkey, they only need the link that you provide to them to get to a survey (while it is still open). There is a nominal annual fee to use all of its features, but there is no fee to use basic features.

Why is it called Survey MONKEY? What with the monkey?

Because monkeys are awesome, I suppose.

Previous posts:

• Presentation: "Old Ideas, New Technologies--Harnessing the Power of Web 2.0 Resources for the Weary Instructor" (Cosmos in the Classroom 2010)