Part I: The 3 T’s of Online Assessment: Tools, Techniques, and (Saving) Time

1. Part I: The 3 T’s of Online Assessment: Tools, Techniques, and (Saving) Time • Curtis J. Bonk, Professor, Indiana University • President, CourseShare • http://php.indiana.edu/~cjbonk; cjbonk@indiana.edu • Vanessa Paz Dennen, Assistant Professor • Florida State University • http://www.vanessadennen.com, vdennen@fsu.edu

2. Session Objectives • Detail online assessment techniques • Discuss how to match learning activities with learner assessments • Examine instructor time and comfort issues • Discuss ways to limit and detect cheating and plagiarism • Document online tools and resources for assessment

3. Online Assessment Techniques (with some time-saving tips added in…)

4. Is this motivating? How would you feel? • You take an online class. • You read some Web pages. • Maybe you watch some videos or hear some audio clips. • Maybe you ponder some study review questions. • You take a multiple choice test online. • You receive an automated score on the test. • Class is over.

5. How about this scenario? • You take an online class. • You “meet” your fellow students on the d-board. • You read some materials. You find and share some materials too. • You participate in some discussions of course concepts. • You take a multiple choice test. • You receive an automated score on the test. • Class is over.

6. Commentary on Scenario 1 • No interaction with peers. • Students don’t feel “missed” if they don’t participate. • Not clear why course is online (except perhaps for media elements). • Potential for immediate feedback is nice -- but assessment format is limiting.

7. Commentary on Scenario 2 • Interaction with peers is great. Serves as a motivator. • Community is likely to develop. • Students will feel involved and important if they share examples and resources. • Assessment format may not be well aligned given the activities. • Class lacks closure in a manner appropriate to the activities.

8. Assessment and Learning • Course objectives, activities, and assessments should be in alignment • This tends to be an issue in courses regardless of medium. • Example: • In class students conduct a debate • Students are tested on their ability to recall facts

9. Mis-aligned Online Learning and Assessment • A not-uncommon scenario • Discussion is used as a learning activity • Students are required to participate • Participation is noted by how many messages were composed by a student • But does this method measure learning?

10. Common Online Assessment Complaints • Instructor perspective • There’s too much to assess! • I don’t know what activities to assess! • I don’t know if students really are ready for the test! • How do I know the student actually did the work/took the test?

11. Common Online Assessment Complaints • Student perspective • If they’re supposed to discuss, why doesn’t that count as part of their grade? • If they’re just supposed to do something, why does quality matter? • I just got a number, no feedback. • I didn’t get participation feedback.

12. The Feedback Issue • Students participating in online activities look for feedback to know: • A. the instructor is reading their contributions • B. their participation is valued • C. their participation is adequate, in terms of quality and quantity • Feedback need not be individualized to be effective • Whole class commentary provided on a regular basis was found to be just as satisfactory from the student point of view (Dennen, 2001)

13. The Assessment Issue • Often, online activities go unassessed • “Add-on” syndrome: Adding an online activity to a previously designed class because it sounds like a good idea

14. The Assessment Issue • Students are more likely to participate when then know there is impact on their grade • Direct impact: graded on participation (quality, quantity or both) • Indirect impact: participation should bolster performance on other assessments • Students quickly become aware if an online activity is not related to assessed learning objectives

15. The Assessment Issue, Cont. • Sometimes the wrong things are assessed • Examples: • Assessing students’ online moderation skills when the course topic/learning objectives have nothing to do with online moderation • Assessing quantity of participation, but not quality • which, granted, is easier, but encourages sloppy message posting rather than thoughtful learning dialogues

16. Bloom’s Revised Taxonomy • A useful tool for checking alignment • Also great to guide your course design!

17. To Find Out More… A Taxonomy For Learning Teaching and Assessing By Anderson And Krathwohl

18. Assessment Techniques Options… • Formative or Summative • Student-led (Self or Peer) or Teacher-led • Public or Private • Process or Product Other issues to consider… • “Objective” or Interpretive • Rubric-based or Wholistic

19. Formative Alleviate student anxieties re: expectations Seem especially high in online classes Encourage working toward mastery Can be informal Summative Used for student’s grade Assumed to be “best” effort Formative vs. Summative Assessments

20. Example: Online Formative Assessment • Paper draft discussion forum • Start a discussion forum for papers-in-progress • Have each student start a thread and post elements of their papers as they complete them (e.g., topic, major claims, research sources) • A schedule for each element is useful • Monitor and provide feedback

21. Teacher-led “Traditional” assessment Most often summative Student-led Students may assess self or peers May be formative or summative Can greatly relieve instructor burden Students reinforce concepts through feedback process Student vs. Teacher Led

22. Examples: Online Self-Assessment • Self-tests: Use test tool to create self-tests (multiple choice, true false) • May wish to track student efforts • Can incentivize use (essentially, use as a learning tool) • Reflection papers: Have students submit brief, focused papers expressing the strengths and assessments of their assignment(s)

23. Example: Online Peer Assessment (Formative) • Feedback groups: Assign students in groups to provide formative feedback on projects and papers • Often raises quality of assignments • Need a structure with clear deadlines • Need prompts and models to guide students • May wish to assess feedback process/contributions

24. Example: Online Peer Assessment (Summative) • Conference Presentations: Have students “present” their work and ask questions/provide feedback to others. • In d-board, have students attach papers to messages; post a message with a synopsis; or attach a powerpoint presentation • Each student/team should have their own thread • Feedback should occur during a defined period of time. • May consider allowing students to rate assignments on certain dimensions

25. Private Work is submitted to the teacher only Entire burden of feedback is on teacher Important if assessing at fact level Public Peers can see each others’ work (either in process or completed) Peers may comment on each others’ work Often increases quality of work submitted Public vs. Private

26. Product The end deliverable Look for polish, accuracy Process How the student got there Look for thoughtfulness of approach, intent Process vs. Product

27. Assessing Process • Easy to do • Many technology tools will archive student work/interactions • Students create a document trail in process • Helps students develop metacognitive knowledge • Instructors structure/model/encourage productive work processes • Students learn how to manage their own work processes

28. Why Assess Process? • For the instructor … • Provides formative feedback on course (e.g., helps gather data about why students have difficulty with product-oriented assessments) • Clarifies who is doing most work in small group assignments • Helps prevent cheating

29. Why Assess Process? • For the student … • Typically improves the quality of their products • Helps them develop productive work processes • Puts on a schedule • Shows that you care about individual growth

30. Assessment Project Cycle • From Classroom Assessment Techniques by Angelo & Cross (1993) • Step 1: Plan • Choose class • Focus on assessable question • Design project to answer question

31. Assessment Project Cycle [2] • Step 2: Implement • Teach target lesson • Collect assessment data • Analyze data • Step 3: • Interpret results • Communicate results • Evaluate assessment project

32. I. Term Papers • How to do online: • Have students each start their own thread and post topic of interest • Peers and instructors give feedback • Students post thesis statements, research sources, etc., with iterations of feedback • Final paper is posted

33. Term Paper Assessments • Product: the paper • Process: quality and timeliness of student work from time when paper is assigned • Process: quality and timeliness of feedback provided to peers • Process: responsiveness to feedback received from instructor and peers

34. II. Discussion Assignments 1. Chain of thought • Have students develop a solution to a problem • Have students indicate what led them to a particular conclusion, method or approach • Can be done in a discussion board

35. Discussion Assignments 2. Theory to Practice • Have students match up theories you are learning about to actual problems • Present students with problems and have them explain what theories they would use to solve these problems and how they would approach it • Debrief the assignment

36. Discussion Assignment 3. Synthesizer (i.e., wrapper) • Have students take roles being the weekly synthesizer of class discussion • Add a “meta” level in which students narrate their own experiences while reading the weekly discussion • Reflect on how life relates to discussion

37. III. Group Projects • Tools used • Chat: brainstorming ideas, making group decisions, regular way to feel connected (should be archived) • Discussion board: commenting on drafts • E-mail: quick feedback • File exchange: sharing project files • MS Word: Track changes

38. Group Project Assessments • Product: project files that are turned in • Process: online archive demonstrating • Who contributed what • Who provided peer feedback • Who worked in a timely manner • How collaborative a group was • Process: peer ratings • Process: interim instructor consultations

39. Group Project Assignments 1. Work Plans • Have students develop a plan of work for their project • Make them outline topic, schedule, resources needed, division of labor and anticipated form of final deliverables • At end of project, have students evaluate how well they followed their own plan and how useful it was

40. Project Assignments 2. Research Trail • Have students document the steps they took in the research process and the results • Ask for a brief reflection on how effective their process was and what they might change the next time

41. Project Assignments 3. Process Presentations • Have students focus on their process as well as their product in class presentations • To maintain focus, ask them to share 3 main lessons learned • Might ask for some process documents to be shared, like an early draft

42. Project Assignments 4. Design Journal • Have students maintain a journal of all ideas related to their project • Encourage sketches, lists, organizational charts, etc. • Require journals to be turned in with final projects

43. IV. Reflection Assignments • Have students keep a weekly journal of their thoughts on readings and course content AND real-world related instances that they noticed • May make these public, with each student having their own discussion thread

44. Making it Happen • Learners need to see that process is valuable: • Model appropriate processes • Provide students with scaffolding (guide sheets) to structure their processes • Give students feedback on their process • Require students to reflect on their processes • Grade students on process

45. Vanessa’s TopTime-Saving Tips • Before you assign it, ask yourself “can I reasonably assess it?” • Rely on students/peers for providing some feedback • Let students know what to expect up front • Choose the right tool for the job • Get to know the editing and commenting features of your favorite programs • Use rubrics! • I make them in Word, and then while grading I highlight or bold the section that applies to the student’s projects. Add a few comments at the bottom = speedy grading!