Caroline Conlon, eLearning Design CoordinatorFaculty Development & Instructional Design Center

Assessment Strategies for Online Learning

Session Topics

• How assessment strategies fit into the overall Instructional design process

• Assessment categories, specifically the role of formative and summative assessments in an online environment

• 7 Principles of Effective Online Assessments• Assessment tools available for use in Blackboard and

considerations for their use in an online environment• Academic integrity

Assessment and the Instructional Design Process

• Include assessment strategy into the ID process

• Align assessment strategy with learning objectives or learning outcomes

• Think about assessment from learner perspective

Assessment Categories

Formative Assessment Summative Assessment

Surveys Midterm / Final Exam

Journals Quizzes

Blogs Standardized Tests

Wikis Final Grades

Discussion Boards Final Presentations

Self and Peer Assessments Term Papers

7 Principles of effective online assessment

Design learner-centered assessments that include self-reflection

Design and include grading rubrics for the assessment of contributions to the discussion as well as for assignments, projects, and collaboration

Include collaborative assessments through public posting of papers, along with comments from student to student

Use Assessment techniques that fit the context and align with learning objectives

Design assessments that are clear, easy to understand, and likely to work in an online environment

Ask for and incorporate student input(Palloff & Pratt, 2009)

Assessment Tools

RubricsAllow for objective and consistent assessmentClarifies your expectations about assessmentMakes students accountable for their

performanceProvides a rationale for gradingIf team teaching or TA is grading, provides a

framework for all

Assessment Tools

Assessment Tools

SurveysUse Survey tool to gather aggregate responses

from studentsRemind students surveys are anonymousIf desiring to share findings with students,

copy/paste results into Word to post to Blackboard

Assessment Strategies

Discussion Board, Wikis, Blogs, JournalsProvide clear expectations up front (word

count, substance, use rubrics)Provide feedback or comments along with

gradeIn the Discussion Board, best to grade by

forum versus the thread

Assessment Tools

Online Quizzes, Tests, and PoolsAllow students opportunity to practiceFormat questions in MS Word and import using

the Blackboard Quiz GeneratorAdd test questions to pools for easy reuse and

expansionCheck with your textbook publisher to see if they

offer question pools for your textbookCreate tests from random blocks or question pools

whenever possible

Assessment Tools

Assignments Use Assignment Manager for file exchangeAttach assignment instructions and/or

template files when creating assignmentDownload submitted assignments for offline

gradingEnter feedback electronically & return to

students via the assignment

Assessment Strategies

SafeAssign Use SafeAssign for substantial written

assignmentsInform students in the syllabus of the

requirements to use SafeAssignCreate draft version for students to submit to

in order to self-check their workMake originality reports viewable by students

Academic Integrity

Plagiarism – Use SafeAssignGet to know the student’s capabilities through

the use of formative assessmentsTests and Quizzes – Randomize the order of test questionsRandomly select a percentage from test poolIf a home quiz or test, allow open book

Academic Integrity

“Spending large quantities of valuable time chasing after a small percentage of cheaters can quickly lead to diminishing returns”

(Simonson, Smaldino, Albright & Zvacek, 2011)

References

Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2009). Assessing the online learner, resources and strategies for faculty. Jossey-Bass Inc Pub.

Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., & Zvacek, S. (2011). Teaching and learning at a distance, foundations of distance education. Allyn & Bacon.