Online Education Assessment
The evolution of mobile and online education has revolutionized and introduced challenges for assessment. The advances in technology have changed the way that students learn. Students are no longer confined to a desktop or corner workstation in their classroom, they're now able to finish assignments and multitask from anywhere that they are in the world. From their smart phone or tablet, they're able to do work at their own convenience and not be bound by the setting of a traditional classroom or the schedule of hours for a traditional class. Students could work on their assignments or listen to a lecture at two o'clock in the morning if they wanted to.
Some of the challenges that educators are now facing regarding assessment
Dick, Carey and Carey (2005) share four types of assessment methods that are being used 1. Entry assessment 2. Pre assessment 3. Practice assessment and 4. Post assessment. Some examples of assessments that have been helpful for instruction include tests, essays, papers, live performances, projects and portfolios.
Since the advances in technology, some things about assessment have changed. Many schools have focused on the scores of standardized tests, fill-in-the-blank, multiple-choice, true or false. Having a correct answer does not necessarily provide a valid assessment of what a student knows. Students can memorize information that is anticipated to be on a test. Technology has exacerbated a problem of cheating. But, technology, to me, provides many more positives, in the field of education, than negatives.
I think that online learners be assessed based upon what they know by using their learning style to demonstrate to their teacher what (s)he knows. For me, personally, I do not like to take tests/exams. Regardless of how knowledgeable I am in any area, I, sometimes, do not do well on tests. I prefer to work with my hands and demonstrate how to do something. Many educational institutions in our country are assessing students, incorrectly, with standardized tests or "go through the motion" lectures and courses. I have an undergraduate degree that is full of hands on, real-life experiential learning assignments. Granted, I have learned a lot in my online graduate degree, but it is a different experience than being in the classroom. Online learning is more student-centered with indirect instruction. The opportunities for instructors and students to be able to collaborate together can help the instructors to be able have a better assessment of the students.
Some of the challenges that educators are now facing regarding assessment
Dick, Carey and Carey (2005) share four types of assessment methods that are being used 1. Entry assessment 2. Pre assessment 3. Practice assessment and 4. Post assessment. Some examples of assessments that have been helpful for instruction include tests, essays, papers, live performances, projects and portfolios.
Since the advances in technology, some things about assessment have changed. Many schools have focused on the scores of standardized tests, fill-in-the-blank, multiple-choice, true or false. Having a correct answer does not necessarily provide a valid assessment of what a student knows. Students can memorize information that is anticipated to be on a test. Technology has exacerbated a problem of cheating. But, technology, to me, provides many more positives, in the field of education, than negatives.
I think that online learners be assessed based upon what they know by using their learning style to demonstrate to their teacher what (s)he knows. For me, personally, I do not like to take tests/exams. Regardless of how knowledgeable I am in any area, I, sometimes, do not do well on tests. I prefer to work with my hands and demonstrate how to do something. Many educational institutions in our country are assessing students, incorrectly, with standardized tests or "go through the motion" lectures and courses. I have an undergraduate degree that is full of hands on, real-life experiential learning assignments. Granted, I have learned a lot in my online graduate degree, but it is a different experience than being in the classroom. Online learning is more student-centered with indirect instruction. The opportunities for instructors and students to be able to collaborate together can help the instructors to be able have a better assessment of the students.
Thanks for posting! I enjoyed reading about online assessment from your perspective. I like that you seemed to stress that the online learning environment provides opportunities use a variety of assessment strategies to get a more broad view of the knowledge that the students have attained. I think that this is one of the greatest benefits of online education. If I get the opportunity to teach in the online environment today then I would like to implement a wide variety of both formative and summative assessment strategies.
ReplyDeleteOffering a variety of formative and summative assessment stategies to your students online can be beneficial. Assessing students can be a difficult task. What are some good ways to assess online students?
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing,
-Chris