Authentic Assessment

     According to Drummond (2005) the primary challenge regarding online education is that the assessments we are using were based on an older learning goals.  His recommendation is that in the new learning paradigm we must integrate learning and assessment if we are to be effective in our goals.  The concept of reading a passage, hearing a lecture, and then taking a multiple choice test are mostly things of the past.  Drummond champions the concept that learning must be real to the learner.  The learner must see value in the lesson that can be used towards their everyday lives.  This in turn requires that assessment have the same goals, that is, to authentically assess the student’s learning in a manner that is relevant and at the same time informative.   Integrated assessment not only allows the learner to see value in the applicability of the material, but it allows for more immediate corrective feedback, which the learner can then turn around and use to improve in the very course they are in.

     Isreal, Moshirina, and Anderson (2008) believe that one answer to the solution can be found in the use of wikis in online learning environments.  They claim that wikis offer authentic assessment possibilities through their flexibility of application.  The specific example given is for case based assessments for pre-service teachers, but could be applied to any complex assessment issue.  The use of wiki allows the user to enter different aspects of a case from interviews, to evaluations, past records, to conversations or meetings that have been recorded.  The learner is allowed to use higher order thinking to directly apply their learning to a situation that has bearing on what they wanted to use the information for in the first place.  This method also allows for errors to be corrected before they are exacted upon real students and parents.

     Based on the information I have read and my own experiences with education both face to face and in an online environment there exists a legitimate need to incorporate authentic assessment methods into online learning programs.  I cannot count the number of times I have heard classmates complain about getting graded assignments back two weeks after they were submitted.  In a 16 week face to face environment where you are receiving at least weekly feedback based on your interaction in the class, this may be acceptable, but in an online environment where classes average five to eight weeks it is too long.  Learners are not able to incorporate the feedback into their future learning and the point of assessment is lost as anything other than a tool to know where the learner was.  There is much to be done, but research done by people like McLoughlin & Luca (2006) is making great strides in pinpointing a best practices approach to assessment in an online environment. 

References

Drummond, C. (2005). Using Instructional Design Techniques to Create an Authentic Online Assessment Model for an Introductory Computer Science Course. Journal of Interactive Instruction Development, 17(3), 20-32. Retrieved from EBSCOhost.

Israel, M., Moshirnia, A. & Anderson, S. (2008). Case-Based Authentic Assessment Applications within Wikis. In J. Luca & E. Weippl (Eds.), Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2008 (pp. 2608-2617). Chesapeake, VA: AACE. Retrieved from http://www.editlib.org.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/p/28727.

McLoughlin, C. & Luca, J. (2006). Best Practice in Online Assessment: Principles, Processes and Outcomes. In E. Pearson & P. Bohman (Eds.), Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Multimedia, Hypermedia and Telecommunications 2006 (pp. 2375-2382). Chesapeake, VA: AACE. Retrieved from http://www.editlib.org.ezproxy.liberty.edu:2048/p/23341.