Creating Distance Learning Courses
Lesson Five
Using Technology to Assess Learning
Challenges of Testing at a Distance
Timely
Examination
If tests and quizzes are available electronically at any time,
distant learners can jump ahead in the materials and take these assessments
before completing the related reading and activities. This is can be an
advantage for self-paced, independent learners who already possess some
of the skills and knowledge in the field. They can quickly demonstrate
this knowledge and then move on to other material. Learner control over
the scheduling of testing also allows you to evaluate quizzes or tests
individually or in small batches as they are submitted, rather than all
at once.
But if your course format involves group learning at a proscribed pace, or if you feel it's important for each learner to complete all activities and assignments to get maximum benefit from the course, withhold access to quizzes and tests until a learner completes and submits earlier assignments.
Test
Administration
Credit or credentialing requirements in your field may dictate
that the identity and skills of specific learners be confirmed in person.
In this case, you may need to arrange for personal demonstrations of learning
such as proctored
examinations. A proctored exam is a supervised exam in which either
you or the learner identifies an appropriate person and place to administer
the test. This place could be distant from you but local to the learner.
The test is adminstered locally and returned to you. Some organizations
provide proctoring services for a fee.
Electronically administered quizzes and tests may be subject to technical difficulties, so develop alternative forms of the assessments to use as needed. Eyestrain and network connection complexities may complicate taking online tests, so make these as short as possible.
Quizzes
Quizzes play a vital role in distance learning. Learners are less apt to skip forward to a test if assessment is an ongoing part of your course requiring consistent contact between you and them. Regularly scheduled quizzes keep learners moving through the material, and give you important information on how they are doing while there is time to assist them. They also contribute to the liveliness and interactivity of the course.
Most importantly, regular feedback reduces the anxiety many distance learners feel about their progress, and motivates them to continue. Self-graded quizzes can provide this learner feedback and motivation without requiring that you constantly evaluate and grade a large number of assessments. There are many inexpensive or free software programs available that assist you in constructing computer-graded quizzes and examinations. Here are a few:
- Balu, S. Quiz Builder. University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
- Bryc, W. and Pelikan, S.(1998) Online Exercises System. University of Cincinnati.
- Catalyst WebQ online quiz and survey tool.
Online Portfolios for Assessment of Student Learning
Another method for assessing student learning during a course is a student portfolio. A portfolio can exhibit a student's best course work or demonstrate growth over the course of a quarter. Portfolios also encourage students to reflect on their own progress.
Portfolio
Project Builder
Portfolio
Project Builder allows instructors, advisors, and career counselors
to guide students through the construction of a digital portfolio. With
Portfolio students can collect, annotate, arrange, and
display a variety of digital "artifacts" that illustrate their
accomplishments in a course, or throughout their University career. With
Portfolio Project Builder, instructors and advisors can
provide students with a set of Web pages that step them through the process
of collecting and reflecting on their work. Each project page is interactive,
allowing students to work directly in the page. Student portfolios can
be submitted multiple times to the instructor for review and instructors
can comment directly on portfolio pages.
Take a few moments to review the capabilities of the newest Catalyst tool, Portfolio. Think about how you might use this tool to enhance your courses.
Drafting Exam Preparation Lessons
Exam preparation lessons provide information on the nature of the exams in your course and help learners know how to best use their time and course materials to study for them. For the independent learner who cannot directly question you in class about the content and scope of an assessment, they serve as important links between the course, lesson objectives, and the exams, and should be written with as much care as other lessons. Approach exam preparation materials as a lesson for which the exam itself is the assignment.
Effective exam preparation lessons include:
- an introduction - address learners in a personal and encouraging manner, summarizing the lessons and course materials covered by the exam and mentioning how comprehensive it will be;
- statement of the types of questions - state what types of questions will be asked (e.g., objective, short answer, problem-solving) or what other types of activities the student will be asked to perform (e.g., writing an essay, identifying photos or drawings).
- description
of exam conditions - provide information about the conditions
of the exam, such as
its time limit, whether learners may use their books and notes; what they are required to bring or use; and
how many points are possible for the exam, and/or what percentage of the course grade the exam comprises. - tips on how to prepare - describe how they can use course materials to evaluate their knowledge and review, including lists of specific terms, concepts, or subject areas they should be familiar with, references to specific parts of texts and other materials to review, suggestions on how to get the most out of your commentary; and instructions to reread comments on their graded assignments.
- sample questions and answers - model appropriate answers to exam questions in order to make clear to learners what you expect of them. This could take the form of a sample exam question (e.g., a short-essay question) and answer, or an entire sample exam (with answers to be put in an appendix to your course guide).
- summary - help learners stand back and look at where all their hard work has gotten them. End your exam preparation lesson with a paragraph that summarizes what they've learned to date in the course.
Design Tips
Learners shouldn't have to struggle with unclear instructions, questions that don't seem to relate to course material, or their own anxiety. Well-designed exams and exam preparation lessons can reduce such obstacles. The guidelines below will help you prepare exam materials that will elicit responses reflective of students' knowledge and skills:
- learning objectives for the course - as outlined in your course introduction, objectives focus on what the student will know or be able to do as a result of the course. All test items should clearly relate to one or more of these objectives.
- the types of questions in the assignments - exam questions should mirror assignment formats. For example, if your written assignments are primarily made up of essay questions, you should primarily use essay questions on the examination.
- length of time available - proctored examinations should last no more than two hours, as learners may have difficulty finding proctors for a longer period. Possible network connection difficulties, eye strain, and body fatigue mean that online tests should be as short as possible.
- the integrity of the examination process - create two versions of each examination (i.e., a “form A” and a “form B”). Many instructors vary their exams by rearranging the sequence of questions or changing key pieces of data in particular questions rather than writing completely distinct versions.
- readiness for the exam - create an exam preparation lesson to serve as a point at which learners can stop and reflect on what they've learned. You can use the preparation lesson to congratulate and encourage them, reiterate the tools for study they have at hand, and provide additional tools -such as sample exam questions and questions that will encourage self-review.
Sound principles of examination design are well-established and apply as much to exams administered to distance learners as classroom learners. Some of these principles are included in this exam design checklist.
Examples
- Question Mark Software. Academic Case Studies and Samples.
- McCoy. Marketing 305 WebCT course. Marketing 305 Practice Exams. SIU.
- General
Chemistry 102 Practice Questions & Tests. University of
North Carolina at Wilmington.
Go on to Assignment 5
