As I was looking around for some inspiration for creating a few grading rubrics for this semester, I came across this site:
http://school.discoveryeducation.com/schrockguide/assess.html

Even though the site is aimed primarily at k-12 educators, there are several rubrics which could be easily adapted to higher education.

Recently I decided to use wikis as a tool for a collaborative group project in my managerial accounting classes.  I learned a lot from this first foray into wikis and it was a success.

The wiki tool that I used was Springnote.com.  It uses a WYSIWYG editor, which makes it very easy for students to use.  It is also free and is hosted so you don’t have to worry about finding a server.  Many other wikis are available; a listing of several other choices and a wiki-choice wizard can be found at WikiMatrix.org.

In future weeks, I will be posting the group wiki project that I used.  You can also see the PowerPoints from a presentation I made on October 30, 2009; several of the screenshots from the wiki project are contained in those PowerPoints.

Hi Everyone.

Just wanted to let you know that Karen and I are on summer hiatus — busy with other projects — but we will posting regularly to our blog again starting in September 2009.

Enjoy the summer!

Wendy

I have started using a really neat site as a substitute for expensive clickers in the classroom.  It is http://www.polleverywhere.com/.  The instructor (before class) creates a question they would like to ask the class (typically multiple-choice format but there is an open-ended option as well) and downloads the slide that PollEverywhere creates.  When in class, students text their answers following the instructions on the slide (an internet connection is required during class).  The free version of PollEverywhere allows up to 32 student responses to show on the slide (the slide updates as students text in their responses).  Wow!  Free…and students don’t need to register — they just text their answers to the number shown on the screen.

Limitations of the free version:  only 32 student responses will be shown for each question…and there is no capacity to record student responses.  There is a pay version that allows more responses and provides the capability to capture student information.

I am enjoying this free service.  It allows me to poll my class without having the students invest in clickers.  Virtually all students are texting — so this is a very natural thing for students to do.  I can “take the pulse” of the class and get a feel for where they are versus where I think we are.

Enjoy….

I like to assign a personal budgeting project when we cover the budgeting chapter in class.  This project adds a little critical thinking to budgeting, while at the same time, increases financial literacy.  My students actually love this project.  It gets rave reviews every semester.  The project was developed for students in Cleveland, Ohio, but can be modified for students anywhere in the country.  The project has two separate files:  the directions packet and the personal budget template (Excel).