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Online Assessment
Uncharted Territory
3/1/2008
Extreme? Perhaps. But as Swan sees it (after years of research), short of locking students into a particular browser (which still isn't foolproof if students have a second computer at home), there is no way to tell if online students are working together behind the scenes. Rather than trying to prevent this, she argues it's better to throw multiple and repeated assessments at students so-at least at some point- they are forced to do their own work.
"The only feedback for whether or not they're learning is the assignments they do, and because you don't have people nodding their heads in a classroom [as you teach], those [assessments] should be multiple," she says. As for assessing the quality of the feedback, Swan concedes it's not her priority. "As long as I'm getting feedback, I'm happy."
Other educators agree. Virga, the psychology professor at Newbury, says that in most online classrooms, since it's so difficult to catch cheaters in the act, educators simply must assign assessments and trust that students won't cheat. He adds that by not having a physical classroom to which students must report, educators can get away with requiring additional assignments, thereby getting a better sense of who and what each student is all about.
"In a face-to-face class, all you're actually getting is their papers," quips Virga. "In an online class, it's paradoxical, because even though they're not there, you can demand and expect more."
Improving Assessment
Looking forward, perhaps the best way to assess the performance of online assessment tools over time is to embrace evolution. The easiest way to do this is simply to stay on top of recent research into online assessments, a chore that is perhaps best accomplished by keeping abreast of the latest publications that deal with the subject (see "For More Information").
On individual campuses, there are other, more proactive options for implementing the latest and greatest in online assessments. Some educators, such as those at Rose-Hulman, administer surveys to all students who participate in online learning, and go through survey responses at the end of every semester to see how they can improve the online assessments and the web-based learning experience overall.
Educators at Rio Salado are even more meticulous: At the end of every school year, Freed says instructors look back at each individual assessment and compare student performance on every question. If a majority of students got a question wrong, educators may go back and tweak the wording or rewrite the question altogether. If a majority of students got a question right, educators might make the query more challenging.
"More than anything, we want to make sure that assessments align with what we're teaching," she says, noting that the process is indeed time-consuming, frequently daunting, but still worth it because of its impact on the quality of the education delivered. "In the end, the curriculum is more important than [the work on] any assessment or online interface."
::WEBEXTRAS ::
Electronic Student Assessment: The
Power of the Portfolio.
Case Study: Seton Hall (NJ) Embraces
Assessment with Technology.
Matt Villano, senior contributing editor of this publication, also writes regularly for The New York Times, San Francisco Chronicle and Sunset. He is based in Healdsburg, CA.
Matt Villano is senior contributing editor of this publication.
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