The advancement of online learning is phenomenal. This area
of education has grown tremendously in the last couple of years. Online and
mobile learning allows the student to build online learning communities
regardless of the student’s location. When classes are held online the teacher
can record the session so if a student misses a class then they do not get
behind on the lectures and content. Programs such as elluminate give the
teachers and students a chance to participate in an online classroom environment.
Students can present findings and
research to the rest of the class and the teacher. This can be an assessment
tool because the teacher can gauge how much the student knows just by
interacting with them in real time (Arora, 2009).
Assessment can come in many forms. Assessment is generally
thought of some type of test that will give the instructor data so they can
plan the rest of the assignments. The definition of assessment has been up for
debate in the past ten years. It used to be a test, but now there can be many
different ways to measure a students understanding of content (Hricko and
Scott, 2009). The teacher can have many different forms of assessment and now
more school systems are moving to an application approach to assessment. This
measures if the students know how to actually apply the knowledge they have
been given.
Online learning should use an assortment of assessment
techniques. This includes quizzes on the basics and then projects or papers
that apply the knowledge the students are learning. Then if a teacher has live
sessions they can determine who has an understanding of the content. This is
congruent with the literature because of the changing dynamic of how students
learn.
References:
Arora, R. (2009). The K-12 online evolution.
MultiMedia & Internet@Schools,
16(6), 17-19. Retrieved from
Hricko, Mary,Howell, Scott. (2006). Online assessment
and measurement:
Foundations
and challenges Information Science Publishing.
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ReplyDeleteOne of the big questions with assessment in a mobile learning environment is who is actually performing the assessment if it is not in the classroom. Most of the online programs require a user name and password. However, when you can't see what the student is doing, you don't know if they are allowing someone else into their account to do their assessment for them.
ReplyDeleteI found an article where a class in Taiwan was mainly synchronous. Each student had to log into the class and then log into a private virtual classroom where they had to have the webcam on. The instructor had remote access to their computer screen. You would think that would be enough. However, the article stated that the webcam did not show the entire room and the student could still have someone under the desk for example helping them (Chao, Hung & Chent 2011).
Liberty online years ago used to ask students to take closed book tests on Blackboard. It seems that they have gotten away from that. I would assume it is for several reasons. The first reason is that there is no way to know if the student is using the book or not. They can electronically sign a pledge not to, but how could you catch them? Timing tests was about all that could be done. I think that Liberty values the ability of the student to do research and locate information more now. All of the tests that I have taken in this program have been open book open notes with very probing questions. I think this promotes higher order thinking as well.
Chao, K., Hung, I., & Chen, N. (2011). On the design of online synchronous assessments in a synchronous cyber classroom. Journal of Computer Assisted Learning, 28, 379-395.
Assessment is the systematic observation of achievement using any number of formats, including paper, technology or live judgment (Spector, Merrill, Van Merrienboer & Driscoll, 2008). Online students can be assessed by their production. For the educator to evaluate the learner some measure must be established. The educator must construct a rubric and make it available to the learner so he can guide himself and auto assesses his work. Self evaluation is part of the student learning and allows the student to play a role of his own assessment (Posner & Rudnitsky, 2006). The student assessment can be utilized to measure the content and the individual learning objective (ILOs) effectiveness and consequently a course adjustment.
ReplyDeletePosner, G., & Rudnitsky, A. (2006). Course design: A guide to curriculum development for teachers. (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.
Spector, J., Merrill, M., Van Merrienboer, J., & Driscoll, M. (2008). Hanbook teseach on educational communications and technology. (3 ed., pp. 376-378). New York, NY: Routledge.
Hi Sherry,
ReplyDeleteThe increasing number of online classes and schools truly do call for instructors to evaluate ways to assess the learner. With more students taking the classes and more advanced users taking the classes will allow schools to develop more complex ways and expectations of their students. The students now have faster computers and better technology which means that the assessment can expand to create projects with video input as well as audio.
As the number of online classes grow and more students move toward the online environment for their educational needs the assessments will also continue to expand and grow.
LeRhonda