Assessing Online Learning

“As online aca­d­e­m­ic pro­grams become more com­mon in high­er edu­ca­tion, more instruc­tors must design their cours­es and stu­dent assess­ments for the online envi­ron­ment. When design­ing online assess­ments com­mon con­sid­er­a­tions such as align­ing assess­ments with course learn­ing out­comes, pro­vid­ing clear cri­te­ria for stu­dents, and pro­tect­ing aca­d­e­m­ic integri­ty need to be made. How­ev­er, there are addi­tion­al and unique fac­tors to con­sid­er for the online envi­ron­ment, such as using tech­nol­o­gy effec­tive­ly and address­ing any stu­dent con­cerns. Through a com­bi­na­tion of research and prac­tice, this guide is a resource for instruc­tors to help plan, design, and imple­ment stu­dent assess­ments in ful­ly online cours­es.”

- Online Assess­ment in High­er Edu­ca­tion, Tay­lor Insti­tute, Uni­ver­si­ty of Cal­gary [PDF]

Resources

• 7 Ways to Assess Stu­dents Online and Min­i­mize Cheat­ing – Arti­cle by Flower Dar­by in the Chron­i­cle of High­er Edu­ca­tion
• Alter­na­tives to High Stakes Tests [PDF]
• Rea­sons to Not use High Stakes Test­ing [PDF]
• Five Prin­ci­ples for Mean­ing­ful Online Assess­ment — Uni­ver­si­ty of Calgary’s Teach­ing and Learn­ing Cen­tre
• Alter­na­tive Online Assess­ment Ideas — Uni­ver­si­ty of Calgary’s Teach­ing and Learn­ing Cen­tre
• Q+A: Toward Bet­ter Assess­ments in Online Cours­es — This arti­cle is an inter­view of Jason Openo and Dianne Con­rad. Openo serves as direc­tor of the Cen­tre for Inno­va­tion and Teach­ing Excel­lence at Med­i­cine Hat Col­lege in Alber­ta, Cana­da, and Dianne Con­rad teach­es in Athabas­ca Uni­ver­si­ty’s Cen­ter for Dis­tance Edu­ca­tion. The inter­view was done by the jour­nal, Inside High­er Edu­ca­tion, where they asked Openo and Con­rad to share their thoughts on the state of assess­ment and the poten­tial for its evo­lu­tion result­ing from their book, “Assess­ment Strate­gies for Online Learn­ing”.
• Options for Online Assess­ment: Ontario Col­lege and Uni­ver­si­ty Exam­ples — Con­tact North (an online learn­ing orga­ni­za­tion for post-sec­ondary in Ontario) did a project high­light­ing the ‘pock­ets of inno­va­tion’ going on in col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties. This page pro­vides some good exam­ples of online assess­ment activ­i­ties.
• 7 Assess­ment Chal­lenges of Mov­ing Your Course Online (and a Dozen + Solu­tions) — Fac­ul­ty Focus is a dai­ly newslet­ter from Magna Pub­li­ca­tions for high­er edu­ca­tion. Writ­ten by expe­ri­enced edu­ca­tors in col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties, these two arti­cles high­light the chal­lenges of assess­ment being done online – and some solu­tions!
• Pro­mot­ing Aca­d­e­m­ic Integri­ty in the Online Class­room — Fac­ul­ty Focus is a dai­ly newslet­ter from Magna Pub­li­ca­tions for high­er edu­ca­tion. Writ­ten by expe­ri­enced edu­ca­tors in col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties, these two arti­cles high­light the chal­lenges of assess­ment being done online – and some solu­tions!