Annotated bibliography

I struggled to get started on this activity. The concept of a taxonomy of learning theories as to how it  can be applied within a field of interest had me trying to decide what field I was interested in and what a taxonomy would look like. I sought clarification on "taxonomy". My original thinking was correct in that a taxonomy within biology shows a current organism's genetic/familial history i.e. it's origins. It seems logical then to look backwards from the organism to see from where it came, I figured that I would apply the same logic to the current task. Looking at recent research uncovers the work that those authors have based their research on, looking at that research uncovers more.

I decided to look at:

A Selection of Research on the Use of MOOC Software and Computer-Supported Collaborative Learning strategies for Reflection and Peer Assessment in K-12 PBL Classrooms.

I found a lot of articles. In retrospect, reflection and peer assessment are different beasts and I should have selected one of them; I got spanked for choosing articles that didn't address the question - I think they were relevant, but because the focus was so broad, the articles I chose seemed inappropriate.

Regardless of my graded performance, I have assimilated some useful info that I can use in the development of my self and peer assessed, SRL, topics.

I have found evidence that training students to use a rubric over 2 attempts can bring their grading of a piece of work in line with the instructor so that there is no significant difference. Since there is some evidence of poor attitude toward the grading done by peers, I believe allowing the students to see this in action should remove any anxiety they have regarding peer assessment. Research has been performed on Coursera's MOOC peer assessment that shows that they can take account of student bias based on their marking of a baseline piece of work. What is interesting is that Coursera makes everyone peer assess oneiece of work that is common to everyone, this allows for their algorithmic adjustments to the scores. Seems sensible then to do something similar with a class of students, but I do this anyway.

I have been trying to create a digital learning environment within Google Apps for Education that permits students in a PBL environment to submit a piece of work, self assess it and have it peer assessed without the teacher getting involved. If I can program Google Sheets to do something similar to what Coursera's does in the way that it anonymously distributes work to be peer assessed to every student I will be very happy. Research has shown though that students require the input of a more experienced peer and/or their instructor, so: a) the grading may not need to be anonymous, and b) the teacher still needs to give feedback.