M1 | P a g e ©Alam Social Informatics Assignment 1 - Online Forum Participation Due: Throughout the semester. Three best posts and reflection on these posts are to be submitted by 4 Nov 2016 by 11.00 pm Worth: 40% of total assessment in this unit Learning outcomes 1, 2 & 3 from unit outline Generic skills Communication, analysis and inquiry, professionalism and social responsibility The Task Participation is an important component of this unit. Throughout the semester you are encouraged and expected to participate fully in online discussions and activities. You will contribute to a closed Facebook group discussion on a weekly basis. Contributions will involve: • responding to module activity topics set by the Lecturer for each module; and • linking learnings from readings set for each module in your response; and • taking part in conversations with peers • the posts must be rigorous, well informed and well -written discussion and include references as seen fit Your contribution should be brief, roughly between 500 – 700 words per module. Note that some modules are two weeks in length and some are three weeks in length. See the unit outline for further details. Feel free to link to or upload different media to support your discussion. Your contributions will be marked in full after your final submission. Evidence of ongoing engagement throughout the semester will be a key aspect in finalising your grade. To pass this assessment, you must participate in at least 70% of the forum discussions. Why Facebook forum discussion? We will be hosting the discussion forums on a Facebook closed group (i.e. secret group according to Facebook!). Why Facebook? This unit is about understanding disruptive nature of technology through its impact at cultural, institutional and societal level. Hence by using Facebook discussion forums rather than the usual Moodle forums, we will be able to experience first-hand an alternative form of online class discussion. Facebook now has Facebook Live, a feature, quite interesting, making it simple for us to communicate through live sessions which are also recorded. So the teaching team will use this feature as they see fit. Please note you need the latest version of Facebook installed in your smart phone/PC to access Facebook Live. How to join the closed group? You will be sent an invitation to join a closed Facebook group to your student email address (please check it does not end up in your spam folder!). If you do not have a Facebook account, we suggest you open one ASAP. It is a requirement for the unit to be able to participate in discussion forums in Facebook. If you are unsure or have not received any invitation by Tuesday of week 1, please contact the teaching team.2 | P a g e ©Alam Submission requirement Student will provide evidence of Facebook forum participation in the assignment submission at the end of Week 13. Your assignment submission will consist of the following components: 1) Evidence of participation in Facebook forum discussions You should choose your best 3 informed and rigorous forum discussions from your posts made in Facebook during the semester. Each of the 3 discussions should be provided from a different Module and each should be roughly 250 - 700 words – so 750 words at least in total. The posts should be submitted along with your reflection (see instructions about the reflection at point 2 below) in a word document, with the posts displayed as screen shots from Facebook (need to be in legible format). Look at the evaluation criteria/rubric to make your selection. For higher marks, your discussion posts should also show evidence of peer engagement. 2) Reflection You should include a short reflection about each post/discussion that you have selected for assessment. Your reflection should be a maximum of 300 words per reflection per post – so less than 900 words in total. Include in your reflection a rationale for your choice of posts, a summary of what you learned from the post/discussion, and whether you have changed or expanded your views since making the post. The reflection should appear underneath the relevant post. Evaluation of participation and contribution: Contributions will be evaluated on the quality of the contributions and the degree that the posts/comments/discussions promote contribution to the learning community. Evidence of ongoing on time engagement throughout the semester will be a key aspect in finalising your grade for this assignment. Hence, just participation in selective modules is not sufficient for achieving higher grades. A detailed rubric for assessment is provided below. Assignment 1 Assessment rubric: Category Outstanding/Proficient (HD/DI) (22.5 to 30 marks) Basic/Satisfactory (CR/P) (15 to 22 marks) Below expectations (Fail) (0 to 14.5 marks) Content/relevance of post Discussed thoughtfully and with insight; Key issues from the prompt are identified and answered; Clear discussion with no digressions. Discussed at surface level; Key issues from the prompt are identified but not all are answered; Clear discussion most of the time. Difficult to follow; Key issues from the prompts are not identified or answered. Timeliness/initiative Posted by the assigned due date; Early into the discussion. Posted by the assigned due date; Some not in time for others to read and respond. Not posted by the assigned due date (or late); Some, or all, required postings missing.3 | P a g e ©Alam Connections/ resources to extend discussion Clear connections; Connections to previous or current and/or to real-life situations; Resources that extend the discussion are added; Link included. New ideas or connections; Lack depth and/or detail vague generalities; Resources that extend the discussion are added, but not always; Link included No connections are made; Off topic; No resource added. Critical thinking Rich in content; Thought, insight and analysis has taken place; Generally competent; Information is thin and commonplace; Rudimentary and superficial; No analysis or insight is displayed. Contribution to Learning Community Aware of needs of community; frequently attempts to motivate the group participation; Presents creative approaches to topic. Occasionally makes meaningful reflection on group's effort; Marginal effort to become involved with group; Interacts freely. Does not make effort to participate in learning community as it develops; Seems indifferent. Stylistics Few grammatical or stylistic errors with rare misspellings. Several grammatical or stylistic errors. Obvious grammatical or stylistic errors; Posts appear hasty.