Videoconferencing has been around awhile but, let's face it, it still feels surreal. It does the trick, though. Last night I met with my cohort in Hangouts and I don't think we could have worked better if we were in the same room. In fact, we probably work more efficiently in Hangouts, precisely because the medium isn't altogether comfortable. We do what we need to do, finish up and move on. When people come together in a room for a meeting things can go on far longer than necessary.
The biggest challenge in such virtual breakout sessions is scheduling a time to meet that accommodates everyone's schedule. After that, one only needs to contend with the occasional video or audio glitch. To date Reeham has not joined us; for the sake of expediency Jiun and I completed our work without her. Reeham's absense may have had nothing to do with technology, however, and I'm still a fan of videoconferencing.
Jiun and I put our heads together to design an activity focused on the interpretive mode (with a bit of presentational assessment). We worked well together and I look forward to doing this activity with my students (with slight modifications since the exercise is for intermediate Chinese). While a bit unsettling, it's great to collaborate with a virtual stranger (pun intended).
Technology provides us tools that can enhance our ability to reach students and connect with peers. But technology is not an end in itself. Obviously, the tool should serve the outcome. When we talk about assessment in the DL environment, we're talking about assessment, not about tools. There may be new means by which we can assess, but assessment (both formative and summative) need to be built into lesson plans regardless of the medium. The activity Jiun and I developed takes place entirely in the virtual realm and there's a written formative assessment at the end.
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