What are some of the challenges we face when we prepare assessments in online courses? What are some ways of dealing with those?
In my opinion,before an instructor designs an assessment, she/he must be sure that it is warranted. Unless the instructor’s reason for testing is clear, the test will fail. Thus, the real challenge that instructors face when preparing assessments in online courses is to actually find the purpose for assessment itself. Jeanne P. Sewell's mentions clearly in "Online Assessment Strategies: A Primer’ that, ‘Assessments should be tightly connected to the objectives’. Does instructor designed the test to let learner apply what they have been learning and thereby, learning it more and deeply, or instructor wants to certify that learners have mastered certain knowledge or skills. There may be a few other reasons for assessing the learners, one of them is to emphasis what is important to learn and then motivate the participants to focus on it and another one is using assessment as an ‘ motivational tool’(Sewell). The primray aim of assessment should be very clear. The instructor may focus on either or both of the following points:
Will this test enhance learning?
Or/and
Am I more interested in measuring learner’s abilities?
The instructor must consider the assessment carefully because the knowledge required for completing a course may not be sufficient for doing a job. If the learning objectives of the course are clear, then it shouldn’t be a problem. Clear and measurable objectives make everything go better.Once the purpose of assessment is clear, instructor can make strategic decisions on what kind of activities/ task will serve as evaluating tools.
You are right before we write the clear, measurable and observable objectives for a given lecture/lesson, the assessment can’t be prepared. A well-written objective will assist in aligning the objective to activities and assessment. The objectives provide basis and guidance for the selection of instructional content and procedures. They help in evaluating the success of the instruction. The success of instruction can only be determined if students have done well in assessment. Thus, an instructor should provide students with the opportunities to learn problem solving skills and “good grades” will automatically translate into “good learning”. Consider the ‘magic triangle’ in the image below:
Assessment for learning usually involves both teacher and learners in review and reflection. If students are engaged in some kind of reflection of their own work or the work of their peer, the assessment will enhance learning. Moreover, if the questions/ assignments/tasks are chosen from the higher level of thinking from Bloom’s taxonomy, assessment will help learners to learn more. These kind of activities/assignment will discourage students to cheat because they will be required to produce original answers/responses.
I think that an assessment for learning is much more than marking and grading. It should rather provide guidance for improvement. An instructor should aim at assessing quantity rather than quality.
In my opinion,before an instructor designs an assessment, she/he must be sure that it is warranted. Unless the instructor’s reason for testing is clear, the test will fail. Thus, the real challenge that instructors face when preparing assessments in online courses is to actually find the purpose for assessment itself. Jeanne P. Sewell's mentions clearly in "Online Assessment Strategies: A Primer’ that, ‘Assessments should be tightly connected to the objectives’. Does instructor designed the test to let learner apply what they have been learning and thereby, learning it more and deeply, or instructor wants to certify that learners have mastered certain knowledge or skills. There may be a few other reasons for assessing the learners, one of them is to emphasis what is important to learn and then motivate the participants to focus on it and another one is using assessment as an ‘ motivational tool’(Sewell). The primray aim of assessment should be very clear. The instructor may focus on either or both of the following points:
Will this test enhance learning?
Or/and
Am I more interested in measuring learner’s abilities?
The instructor must consider the assessment carefully because the knowledge required for completing a course may not be sufficient for doing a job. If the learning objectives of the course are clear, then it shouldn’t be a problem. Clear and measurable objectives make everything go better.Once the purpose of assessment is clear, instructor can make strategic decisions on what kind of activities/ task will serve as evaluating tools.
You are right before we write the clear, measurable and observable objectives for a given lecture/lesson, the assessment can’t be prepared. A well-written objective will assist in aligning the objective to activities and assessment. The objectives provide basis and guidance for the selection of instructional content and procedures. They help in evaluating the success of the instruction. The success of instruction can only be determined if students have done well in assessment. Thus, an instructor should provide students with the opportunities to learn problem solving skills and “good grades” will automatically translate into “good learning”. Consider the ‘magic triangle’ in the image below:
Assessment for learning usually involves both teacher and learners in review and reflection. If students are engaged in some kind of reflection of their own work or the work of their peer, the assessment will enhance learning. Moreover, if the questions/ assignments/tasks are chosen from the higher level of thinking from Bloom’s taxonomy, assessment will help learners to learn more. These kind of activities/assignment will discourage students to cheat because they will be required to produce original answers/responses.
I think that an assessment for learning is much more than marking and grading. It should rather provide guidance for improvement. An instructor should aim at assessing quantity rather than quality.
No comments:
Post a Comment