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#53 - Create a multi-page scaffolded assignment

  1. Traditional assessment methods are poorly matched to intended learning outcomes.

  2. Students struggle with complex, multi-stage, assessment tasks.

  3. Students forget about their work once it has been submitted, by creating an online portfolio, they have something they can share and refer back to.

Solution overview

Using the MyPortfolio tool, you can design a series of web pages as a "collection". This is like a small self-contained web site. Each page can, if you want, contain sections for content, with titles and instructions, for the student to complete. Images, audio and video can easily be added. The student then makes a copy of your template collection; alternatively, you can share the template to an individual or a group. Students can allow you, or other students, to view their work in progress and give feedback. When completed, they can submit their collection to Moodle, and it is automatically locked so that they cannot make changes. The collection stays with the student in their portfolio, meaning they can refer to it for future work or revision.

Use this approach to create assessment tasks that are more closely aligned with your learning outcomes than a traditional text-based essay would be. It also has the benefit of helping students tackle more complex challenges, spread over a series of sub-tasks (scaffolding).

Process
  1. Get started by creating the template collection within your own MyPortfolio pages.
  2. Create the collection, add and configure pages, providing just the right amount of structure to guide the students in completing the pages as you want them to but leaving enough flexibility for them to be creative and individual.
  3. Either provide the students with information on copying this template to their own portfolio (4) or create and share to a Group in MyPortfolio (5), including all of the students you want to give the template collection to.
  4. Create a Secret Url, and give that url to your students. They can use it to go to your template collection and make their own copy of it.
  5. When editing the collection, select the Share option, and share it with the group you created in step 3.