Online+Assessments

=BlendKit Course: BlendKit Reader: Chapter 3 =

[]  [|Course Home] | [|Schedule] | [|Learning Activities] | [|DIY Tasks] | [|Readings] | [|Blogging] | [|Real Time Sessions/Archive] [|Chapter 1] | [|Chapter 2] | Chapter 3 | [|Chapter 4] | [|Chapter 5]

Blended Assessments of Learning
Edited by Kelvin Thompson, Ed.D. Portions of the following section are adapted from “Design of Blended Learning in K-12” in [|Blended Learning in K-12] under the terms of a [|Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike3.0Unported] license. Portions of the following section labeled as the property of the [|Commonwealth of Learning] are used in compliance with the [|Commonwealth of Learning’s legal notice] and may not be re-mixed apart from compliance with their repackaging guidelines.

Questions to Ponder
A blended learning class is like any other – when lessons are presented, it is imperative that assessment is given to check the depth of learning. Looking back at the learning objectives and design documents (e.g., Course Blueprint) can help answer assessment questions. “Is my test content-valid, based upon the methods of lesson presentation?” “Should my test include a short review time via a traditional classroom setting, or would an online review better prepare my students for assessment?” “Should the test be performed online or in the presence of the teacher?” Online tests make for easy and quick grading by the teacher. Security of the test, however, might be diminished depending on the software and implementation methods used by the teacher. Tests taken exclusively in the classroom setting, however, negate the affordances of technology. Teachers who evaluate their students’ performances by using a mixture of tests – some online, some offline – have experienced more fruitful outcomes. Supplying examples to read as text online or offline proves to be helpful. Presenting video explanations or examples online, where students can view a snippet of the lesson repeatedly gives enough exposure to solidify an idea or concept. Any tool that can be afforded the student should be considered to improve retention. The most crucial step needed in each lesson is the preparation of transfer of learning strategy. If learning is not transferred from the place of learning to practical application, there can be no positive return on investment of the time needed to create, implement, and evaluate the lesson. Students are smarter than we might think. If the lesson doesn’t apply to something tangible or if it can’t be used in real life, you can expect them to ask, “When are we ever going to use this stuff?” Make sure that your objectives are made clear to the students. The learning standards must be addressed, yes, but also find a real life application to better your students’ understanding of the materials covered. If this is not done, much of your time, and your students’ time, has been greatly wasted. A second look to ensure that students have indeed learned the objectives might trigger revisions, allowing for more (or better) class activities and teacher feedback. This should be done before any evaluation strategy. Technology is useful in simplifying this task of transferring the learning strategy. Many times a lesson taught with the use of online instruction or with technology as its main tool provides a built-in application. Students see more clearly how the concepts are used in real life situations, and because the lesson was applied practically, the student retains the information and skills much longer. Caution must be practiced when using online assessment in a blended course. If this method was never practiced during the teaching of the lesson, the student finds himself at a bit of a disadvantage when being tested. Instead of devoting proper time to the non-technical concepts taught, the student might be fighting his way through the technical tool he must use to perform the task at hand. However, the online environment does provide blended learning instructors with opportunities to develop and create a multitude of assessments using new and innovative tools. This section reviews two types of assessments, formal and informal, that can help shape how you assess your students online.
 * How much of the final course grade do you typically allot to testing? How many tests/exams do you usually require? How can you avoid creating a “high stakes” environment that may inadvertently set students up for failure/cheating?
 * What expectations do you have for online assessments? How do these expectations compare to those you have for face-to-face assessments? Are you harboring any biases?
 * What trade-offs do you see between the affordances of auto-scored online quizzes and project-based assessments? How will you strike the right balance in your blended learning course?
 * How will you implement formal and informal assessments of learning into your blended learning course? Will these all take place face-to-face, online, or in a combination?
 * 1) ** Formal assessments ** provide a systematic way to measure students’ progress. These types of assessments also contribute to the final grade, which indicates a student’s mastery of the subject, // e.g., // midterm, and finals.
 * 2) ** Informal assessments ** generally provide the faculty member the ability to gauge their students’ comprehension of course material. It does not involve assigning grades. Furthermore, they can be used to allow students to practice the material prior to a formal assessment, // e.g //., self-tests.

Quizzes/Tests
Multiple choice and short answer tests (or quizzes) are useful for assessing students’ abilities to recognize and recall content. They are also fairly easy to grade; and when faced with a large class size, you can make the grading automatic depending on the question type. However, these online tools also arguably provide students with “more ways to be academically dishonest” (Watson and Sottile, 2010). In the design of effective assessments of learning, Hoffman and Lowe (2011, January) note that the “focus must be on student learning, not student control.” Particularly when dealing with online assessment (e.g., the ubiquitous auto-scored multiple choice quiz tools within course management systems) it is tempting to design a testing environment in which all variables are controlled and student responses do naught but reveal students’ mastery of course objectives. However, as Dietz-Uhler and Hurn (2011) note, “the evidence, although scant, suggests that academic dishonesty occurs frequently and equally in online and face-to-face courses” (p. 75). It is counter-productive to adopt an adversarial stance as we attempt to fence in students to prevent them from cheating (in any modality). Nevertheless, there are steps we can take to make online testing more effective. Many of these are applicable to face-to-face environments as well.

Creating Effective Online Tests
Hoffman and Lowe (2011, January) identify a number of techniques for creating effective online assessments. These are grouped into online assessment tool features and assessment design strategies.

Online Assessment Tool Features
Online quizzing tools typically provide some affordance for ** randomization ** of test items. Depending upon how the instructor uses the tool, this may range from merely randomizing the order in which the same set of items appears to each student all the way to sophisticated alternative test versions in which test items in various content categories and at different levels of difficulty are dynamically-generated for each student (i.e., each student receives a different test, but each version is equivalent). The instructor may impose ** assessment time limits ** such that the test is only available within a certain window of opportunity (e.g., an entire week or just one evening). Additionally, time limits can also be placed on the period between the opening of the quiz and its submission (e.g., a few minutes to multiple hours). Related to this restriction, the instructor can also allow students to see the entire test at once or only one test item at a time. Supported by the online quizzing tool, the instructor may choose to establish ** rules for assessment completion **. For instance, students may be required to complete the quiz in one sitting once the quiz is launched, or they may have the option to start the quiz, log-out, and come back later (within whatever time restrictions have been established). Online assessment tools also support ** proctoring ** if the instructor (or institution) chooses to undertake the logistical arrangements involved in vetting proctors. An approved individual receives a password to unlock the quiz and then he remains present while the student takes the test. The proctor may be asked to verify the student’s identity and/or ensure compliance with certain test-taking protocols (e.g., open/closed book, etc.).

Assessment Design Strategies
Apart from the affordances of the online testing tools, online auto-scored assessments may also benefit from well-designed multiple-choice items with an emphasis on application and higher-level thinking. While many online quizzes (especially many of those available as supplemental instructor resources) focus on low-level factual recall, multiple-choice items may be written at the higher application, analysis, synthesis, or evaluation levels. Such items often involve some sort of scenario aimed at promoting learning transfer from one context to another. Additional strategies might require students to view a chart/graph and select the most accurate interpretation from among several alternatives or even to collaborate with classmates in selecting the best justification statement for why a given answer is correct prior to individually submitting their quizzes. For detailed information on the kinds of assessment design strategies summarized above along with numerous supporting resources, you may wish to visit Hoffman and Lowe’s (2011, January) web page at []. In particular, if you would like a refresher on writing effective multiple choice items at various cognitive levels, you may wish to review the following PDF documents: Many of the above techniques for creating more effective assessments are relevant for online quizzes, traditional face-to-face exams, and online testing implemented in a face-to-face environment; a range of automated assessment options in a blended learning course.
 *  [|Using Bloom’s Taxonomy to Create Multiple-Choice Questions]
 *  [|Effective Assessment Examples]
 *  [|Question Improvement Suggestions]

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,Geneva,'Times New Roman',times; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline;">Essays/Academic Prompts
Assessments that require a subjective analysis are often more difficult and time consuming to grade, however this type of assessment is appropriate for gauging how well students are able to apply the concepts learned in class. Within most course management systems (CMS) there are a variety of tools to facilitate these types of assessments. Such tools typically include the following at a minimum:
 * 1) <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">** Discussion area ** –often used for generating student-to-student interaction based on an instructor-specified critical thinking challenge.
 * 2) <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">** Assessment tool ** – can be used to construct essay-type questions (which must be manually scored).
 * 3) <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">** Assignment tool ** – can be used to submit papers, essays, or other types of assignments.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,Geneva,'Times New Roman',times; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline;">Projects/Authentic Tasks
The following section is excerpted from “Assessment and Evaluation” by Dan O’Reilly and Kevin Kelly in the [|Commonwealth of Learning] ’s [|//Education for a Digital World//] in compliance with the [|Commonwealth of Learning’s legal notice] and may not be re-mixed apart from compliance with their repackaging guidelines.

=
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,Geneva,'Times New Roman',times; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline;">Authentic student assessment strategies for the online environment ===== Often when we talk of assessment in an online environment, we think of automated quizzes and grade books. While useful in many circumstances, automated quizzes do not always accurately reflect a student’s abilities, especially when you are asking them to achieve a higher level of difficulty in the cognitive learning domain, to demonstrate a physical skill in the psychomotor learning domain, or to evaluate attitudes in the affective learning domain (see description of learning domains and degrees of difficulty at [] ). Authentic assessment—assessing student abilities to apply knowledge, skills, and attitudes to real world problems—is not only possible in an online environment; it is getting more popular. When you consider what types of online assessment strategies to choose, the list will be very similar to the print-based strategies that you know and already use. However, there are a few additional assessment strategies that the online environment makes possible. The list below is not comprehensive by any means. It also does not show which tools could be used to facilitate the different types of assessment strategies. Some of these activities may require students to have access to equipment or software applications to complete. Table 14.1. Assessment strategies and disciplines that may commonly use them Notice that some assessment strategies require participation by someone other than the student. For example, a K–12 master teacher would submit an observation log for a credential student performing his or her student teaching. Similarly, a health clinic supervisor would submit an observation log for a nursing student related to his or her abilities to draw blood for testing. A theatre arts student may need someone to record his or her monologue. Some assessment strategies allow students to get creative. It is important to make sure that students have access to, or ability to use the technologies required to complete the tasks, but once you do that, you could ask students to create a video advertisement that demonstrates the application of marketing principles, an audio recording that demonstrates mastery of inflection and tone when speaking Mandarin Chinese, or a PowerPoint slide show with audio clips that demonstrates competency with teacher education standards. The age-old practice of storytelling has been “remastered” as digital storytelling through blogs, wikis, podcasts, and more. Students are taking advantage of these new media formats to illustrate that they have met certain requirements. In some cases, each product becomes an “asset” or “artifact” in a larger electronic portfolio that contains items for a single class, an entire program or department, or all curricular and co-curricular work that a student does. Regardless of what products students provide to show their abilities, you need a way to evaluate their work.
 * ** Type of assessment strategy ** || ** Disciplines that might use each assessment strategy ** ||
 * text-based ||  ||
 * essay || multiple ||
 * glossary || multiple ||
 * lab manual || physical sciences ||
 * computer code || computer science ||
 * technical writing || technical and professional writing ||
 * reflection || teacher education, health education, social work ||
 * observation log || teacher education, nursing, laboratory sciences ||
 * media ||  ||
 * image gallery || art, industrial design ||
 * web page or website || multiple ||
 * presentation || business, public administration ||
 * audio || language acquisition ||
 * video || theatre arts (monologue), marketing ||

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,Geneva,'Times New Roman',times; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline;">Defining Expectations
After determining how students will show how they can meet the learning objectives, it is time to choose an evaluation method. You can use a number of tools, ranging from a simple checklist of criteria to a rubric that contains the same criteria as well as a range of performance and degrees to which students meet the criteria. You can use qualitative or quantitative degrees to evaluate criteria (see Table 14.2 for an example of each). Share the checklist or rubric with students before they begin the assignment, so they know what will be expected of them. In some cases, instructors create the entire rubric, or portions of it, with the students. Table 14.2. Portion of a student presentation assessment rubric illustrate key points. || Presenter used storiesand/or examples somewhat effectively to illustrate some key points. || Presenter used some unrelated stories and/or examples that distracted fromkey points. || Presenter did not use storiesor examples to illustrate key points. || 1) Needs Assessment Objectives, 2) Extant Data Analysis, 3) Data Collection Methods, 4) Brief Summary of Data, 5) Collected Data Analysis, 6) Recommendations || Presentation covered all 6of the areas to the left. || Presentation covered 4 or 5of the areas to the left. || Presentation covered 2 or 3of the areas to the left. || Presentation covered 1 or 0of the areas to the left. ||
 * ** Criteria ** |||||||| ** Range ** ||
 * ^  || 4 || 3 || 2 || 1 ||
 * Student supports main presentation points with stories or examples. || Student effectively usedstories and/or examples to
 * ^  |||||||| Comments: ||
 * Cover project completely,including:
 * ^  |||||||| Comments: ||

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,Geneva,'Times New Roman',times; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline;">Preparing an Assignment for Assessment
The first step to assessing online work is to prepare each assignment. Since students may not have you around to ask questions, you need to anticipate the types of information that students need. There are some standard items to include in your instructions for all types of online assignments: By including these items, you give students a better idea of what you want them to do.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">Name of the assignment (This should be the same name as listed in the syllabus).
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">Learning objective(s) to which this assignment relates.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">When the assignment is due.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">Any resources that you recommend using to complete the assignment.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">Expectations (length, level of effort, number of citations required, etc.).
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">Level of group participation (individual assignments, group or team projects, and entire class projects).
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">Process (how students turn in the assignment, if they provide peer review, how peers give feedback, how you give feedback).
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; background-color: transparent; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">Grading criteria (include rubric if you are using one).

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,Geneva,'Times New Roman',times; font-size: 20px; vertical-align: baseline;">Informal Assessments
Informal assessments are an integral part to any quality course. Many blended learning faculty incorporate these types of assessments into their courses to increase their presence in the online environment and to keep track of their students’ learning using tools within the course management system (CMS) or publicly-available alternatives if necessary. For instance, some CMSs (or free online tools) allow faculty to create practice assessments/self-tests for students to complete. While unscored, these informal assessments often provide data for the instructor to review as one indicator of student learning. Additionally, summative and formative evaluations can be conducted by collecting anonymous input from students during and after the course using either a survey tool within the course management system or one of the many free web-based survey tools. The following section is excerpted from “Evaluating and Improving Your Online Teaching Effectiveness” by Kevin Kelly in the [|Commonwealth of Learning] ’s [|//Education for a Digital World//] in compliance with the [|Commonwealth of Learning’s legal notice] and may not be re-mixed apart from compliance with their repackaging guidelines.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,Geneva,'Times New Roman',times; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline;">One-Sentence Summary
The one-sentence summary is another classroom assessment technique that I adapt to the online environment. Designed to elicit higher level thinking, a one-sentence summary demonstrates whether or not students are able to synthesize a process or concept. Students answer seven questions separately: “Who? Does What? To Whom (or What)? When? Where? How? And Why?” Then they put those answers together into one sentence. Angelo and Cross (1993) also describe this exercise in their book about classroom assessment techniques. Examples I have seen include assigning nursing students to write a one-sentence summary of a mock patient’s case, as nurses are often required to give a quick synopsis about each patient, and asking engineering students to write a summary about fluid dynamics in a given situation. It is fairly easy to use this technique online. You can set up a discussion forum to collect the student entries. The online environment also makes it fairly easy to engage students in a peer review process and to provide timely feedback. When looking at the results of the students’ summaries, you can identify areas where large numbers of students did not demonstrate an understanding of the topic or concept. The most common problem area for students revolves around the question “Why?” Figure 24.4 is an example of a one-sentence summary submitted via discussion thread. The instructor’s reply gives suggestions for improvement and shows the student how the instructor interpreted the sentence components. In order to adequately address teaching effectiveness an instructor needs to use an effective tool to measure specific activities or deficiencies in student performance by using techniques including but not limited to: surveys, analysis of performance, and questionnaires. Re: My Sentence by Instructor—Sunday, 4 September, 08:31 PM This is a good start. WHEN does it happen? Keep in mind that the process does not end with using a data collection tool. There is analysis of the process before the course begins, and after collecting the data. Also, WHERE does it happen? Is this online, in the classroom, or both? —– In order to adequately address teaching effectiveness [7 WHY] an instructor [1 WHO] needs to use an effective tool to measure specific activities or deficiencies [2 DOES WHAT] in student performance [3 TO WHOM] by using techniques including but not limited to: surveys, analysis of performance, and questionnaires [6 HOW] || Figure 24.4 Example one-sentence summary student submission with instructor’s repl // y //
 * My Sentenceby Student B—Friday, 2 September, 12:35 PM

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #444444; font-family: Georgia,Geneva,'Times New Roman',times; font-size: 17px; vertical-align: baseline;">Student-generated test questions
Ask students to create three to five test questions each. Tell them that you will use a certain number of those questions on the actual test. By doing this, you get the benefit of seeing the course content that the students think is important compared to the content that you think they should focus on. You can make revisions to your presentations to address areas that students did not cover in their questions. If there are enough good student questions you can also use some for test review exercises.

<span style="background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Georgia,Geneva,'Times New Roman',times; font-size: 20px; vertical-align: baseline;">References
Angelo, T. A. & Cross, K. P. (1993). Classroom Assessment Techniques: A Handbook for College Teachers (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Dietz-Uhler, B. and Hurn, J.(2011). Academic dishonesty in online courses. In Smith, P. (Ed.) Proceedings of the 2011 ASCUE Summer Conference. Myrtle Beach, SC. Retrieved June 30, 2011 from [] Hoffman, B. and Lowe, D. (2011, January). Effective online assessment: Scalable success strategies. In Faculty Seminars in Online Teaching. Seminar series conducted at the University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL. Retrieved on June 30, 2011 from [] Watson, G. and Sottile, J. (2010). Cheating in the digital age: Do students cheat more in online courses? Online Journal of Distance Learning Administration, 23,1. Retrieved June 30, 2011 from []