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5 components of face to face and online learning experiences

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5 components of face to face and online learning experiences

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Blended learning (also known as hybrid learning) is an educational approach that combines face-to-face instruction with some form of online engagement. It can be daunting to determine how best to navigate these different delivery modes to design cohesive learning experiences. Structuring lessons according to the following five components-and determining which component is best suited to which setting-can help streamline the planning process.

To foster students' investment in a unit, capture their attention from the start. Potential hooks include introducing novelty, a connection, a puzzle or challenge, or a chance for students to make predictions (Doubet & Hockett, 2015).

Face-to-Face: Make a connection between students and content. A 3rd grade teacher introduced a geography unit with the essential question, "What causes change over time?" Students' answers about themselves, their families, and their communities launched an investigation of the same question regarding geographical change.

Ask for predictions. Students in a 5th grade science class examined a partial data set on the time students spend playing video games in a week and made predictions before seeing the entire data set and graphing the results.

Online: Try novelty. Relevant video clips, memes, or comics are useful online launchpads. An English teacher began a study on the effect of a narrator's perspective by posting several optical illusions with varied interpretations and asking students to comment explaining what they saw.

Offer a puzzle or challenge. As an introduction to ratios, middle school math teacher Brett Johnson posted pictures of Ant Man and The Hulk and challenged students to compare their sizes using a can of soda as a reference point.

Instruction can be delivered face-to-face or online (synchronously or asynchronously). Whether live or recorded, be sure to (1) model skills and ask students to give them a try, and (2) chunk content to avoid overwhelming students with too much at once. After each chunk, build in time for students to process the material.

Face-to-Face: Build in spots to "prompt and pause," allowing students to answer questions, share examples, and use response cards.

Online: Provide direct instruction via video and be sure to include opportunities to "pause and post" along the way for students to share "a-ha" moments, questions, and examples.

Align formative assessment with clear learning goals to monitor student progress toward those goals. Chunk goals as you do content and formatively assess after each chunk. Administer ongoing checks for understanding to individuals, pairs, or small groups to determine what's making sense to students, what's confusing them, or where they have misconceptions. Review these student results to determine the nature of follow-up tasks.

Face-to-Face: Capitalize on face-to-face time by administering group checks for understanding using whiteboards, think-pair-shares, discussion, and debate to reveal shared understandings and misconceptions. Ending class with a traditional exit slip helps shape subsequent instruction to more accurately meet student needs.

Online: Use digital platforms to monitor student understanding during online learning. Students learning about different triangles might draw examples on GoFormative or post pictures of examples on Padlet. These online learning checks reveal if reteaching is needed, streamlining instructional time.

Provide students with the opportunity to practice skills-or apply them to a new context-in the company of peers. At their best, processing tasks will engage students with learning goals and with one another.

Face-to-Face: Students can collaborate in traditional small groups or via individual devices using Google Docs or Slides. These forums also allow groups to present their work to the full class by sharing links or projecting products on the classroom screen. Use face-to-face time to provide explicit instruction based on student needs revealed by students' collaborative work.

Online: Engage students in meaningful online interactions with peers through discussion posts in your school's learning management system or on sites like Flipgrid. Invite interaction by asking classmates to comment on one another's posts. Students can also use Google Docs or Slides to maintain the flow of collaborative work between digital and face-to-face settings.

It's important to provide motivating tasks that invite students into learning. Unlike isolated drills, such tasks can easily transition between school and home if they are grounded in authentic connections to the real world (e.g., investigating real-world issues, solving problems set in real-world contexts, using skills and tools of professionals) or to students' personal lives (pursuing areas of personal interest or relevance) (McTighe, Doubet, & Carbaugh, 2020).

Face-to-Face: Introduce tasks in face-to-face or remote, synchronous settings so that students have opportunities to ask questions. If you plan to use digital tools like Piktochart, Canva, or Anchor, introduce those in class so that students can experiment and become comfortable while you are there to troubleshoot.

Online: Continuing work online is most successful when students have access to peers for collaboration (through Google Docs or chats) and have a place to post questions that surface during work. Take advantage of flexible online learning experiences by scheduling opportunities for students to interact with mentors (in the community or beyond).

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Blended learning (also known as hybrid learning) is an educational approach that combines face-to-face instruction with some form of online engagement. It can be daunting to determine how best to navigate these different delivery modes to design cohesive learning experiences. Structuring lessons acc

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What is the purpose of the project?

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Listen to this post as a podcast (sponsored by Kiddom):An earlier version of this post was published in 2013. This is an updated version.
A few years ago, I was working with a group of student teachers. One of them-we'll call him Eric-was teaching seventh-grade social studies. His class was studying ancient Greece. The standards for grade 7 required teachers to address concepts like the government, economics, and culture of this era. For his 5-day unit, Eric was going to focus on the "culture" part.

On the first day of the unit, which Eric developed with his cooperating teacher, students would read the chapter of their textbook that swept through three centuries' worth of ancient Greek culture in about five pages. Then they'd write answers to a set of end-of-chapter questions. On days 2 through 4, students would create their own Grecian urns by wrapping balloons with papier-mâché. Once the urns were dry, students would paint them in a similar style to that of the Greeks, incorporating something personally meaningful as the main artistic feature. Finally, they would present their urns to the class. On day 5, they would be given a quiz asking them to match 10 vocabulary terms, such as comedy, tragedy, urn, and Olympics, to their definitions.

Feeling more than a bit skeptical, I asked Eric to show me the standards his unit was aligned with. He rustled through some paperwork, then pointed to this language from the state standards: Students will demonstrate an understanding of the complexity of culture by exploring cultural elements (e.g., beliefs, customs/traditions, languages, skills, literature, the arts) of diverse groups and explaining how culture served to define groups in world civilizations prior to 1500 A.D. and resulted in unique perspectives.

I read this out loud to Eric, then asked him to show me exactly how his plans taught or measured the standard.

For a long moment, he said nothing.

Finally, he shrugged and told me the unit was basically what his cooperating teacher had "always done for ancient Greece." She'd told him the urn project was really fun, and that the kids loved it. The only problem was, it had nothing to do with the standards. Draping wet, gluey newspaper around a balloon has nothing to do with deepening one's understanding of societies and cultures.

I wish Eric's story was just a rare example, but in my work with student teachers, as a classroom teacher myself, in my many years as a student, and now as a parent, I've seen far too many "Grecian Urns": projects that look creative, that the teacher might describe as hands-on learning, interdisciplinary teaching, project-based instruction, or the integration of arts or tech, but that nonetheless lack any substantial learning for students. What's worse, because these activities are often time-consuming, they take away from other tasks that would give students the chance to wrestle with more challenging stuff.

In their groundbreaking book Understanding by Design, Jay McTighe and the late Grant Wiggins describe this problem as the Sin of Activity-Oriented Design. Instead of focusing on the desired learning outcomes, this approach merely seeks out tasks that might be fun, or at least keep kids busy: "The activities, though fun and engaging, do not lead anywhere intellectually. (They) lack an explicit focus on important ideas and appropriate evidence of learning."

To illustrate this, Wiggins and McTighe describe a 3rd grade unit on apples. In this two-week unit, students read about Johnny Appleseed, paint pictures of apples, do math problems that involve apples, write apple-themed stories, make applesauce, and take a trip to a local orchard. Students probably enjoyed all of these activities, and it's likely that both teachers and students were charmed by how cleverly the theme was woven into so many different content areas. Throughout the unit, students probably seemed engaged, the classroom was full of colors and productivity and maybe even collaboration, but what valuable learning actually took place?

Let's move our lens to the higher grades. Here, the Grecian Urns might involve no crafts at all, but still force students to ride along curricular tangents that, rather than inspire and ignite a passion for learning, lead to dead ends.

Take the math and social studies teachers who decide to co-teach a two-week unit on famous mathematicians. Math and history, right? Students spend most of the first week on computers, researching the mathematicians' birthplaces, families, deaths, and contributions to the field (which most students simply copy, because the actual mathematical concepts are over their heads...how many eighth graders do you know who can explain the Fibonacci sequence?). They spend another three class periods creating PowerPoints or Prezis full of facts about these obscure pioneers in math, complete with neat-o animations and stomach-turning transitions, and another three days presenting these to the class...

For what?

None of the kids got any better at math, nor did their thirst for history grow. But to someone walking by, maybe even to an administrator doing a formal observation, this unit would look kind of amazing. Students doing online research! Cooperative learning! Technology! Interdisciplinary study!
No!
These teachers misunderstood and misapplied the concepts of interdisciplinary study, hands-on learning, and tech integration, and two weeks of precious instructional time were wasted because of it.

It could be argued that all lessons have some educational value, that any kind of reading and writing, manipulating materials and words, interaction with peers, and exposure to the world in general offer opportunities for learning. With that in mind, think of "Grecian Urn" as more of a relative term than an absolute one: Few lessons will be pure Grecian Urns; almost any lesson will probably have some arguable educational value. Far more lessons will simply contain elements that are Grecian Urn-ish; we can make these lessons better if we try to minimize those elements.

The best way to identify a Grecian Urn is to look at a task and ask this question: Does it consume far more of a student's time than is reasonable in relation to its academic impact? If students spend more time on work that will not move them forward in the skill you think you are teaching, then it may be a Grecian Urn. And it may need to go.

Here are some more specific ways to spot the Grecian Urns in your teaching, and what you could do to replace them:

1. Excessive Coloring or Crafting

If your lesson requires more time coloring, cutting, or pasting than meaningful work with the content you're trying to teach, it might be a Grecian Urn. If you are a primary teacher and students need to develop their fine motor skills, or if you are, in fact, an art teacher, then these activities have a clear place in your classroom. Everyone else should use these tasks more sparingly.

This doesn't mean you should never ask students to color, cut, paste, sing, act, or draw, but every time you do, ask yourself if that work is contributing to learning. If not, there may be a way to cut down the time it takes. Suppose you want students to draw illustrations of vocabulary words. Adding visuals can work wonders to boost memory, so this is an instructionally sound decision. But is it necessary for these illustrations to be colored? On posterboard? Or hanging from a mobile? Would a simple line drawing beside each word on a regular sheet of paper serve the same purpose?

Now if your goal is true integration of the arts into your curriculum, I have two articles to recommend to you. Both of these really dig into what it looks like when teachers use art to really enhance students' learning: read this post on arts integration from MindShift and this one from Edutopia to learn more about what this looks like.

2. Excessive "Neat-O" Tech

This is the tech equivalent of item #1: If students are spending lots and lots of time searching for images, making digital drawings, adding animations or effects to slideshows, adding sound effects or special titles to podcasts and videos, you are probably heading into Grecian Urn territory.

The key phrase here is lots and lots of time: Our students will absolutely benefit from learning how to combine text with images, manipulate presentations to make them more interesting, and make use of all the digital tools at their disposal. But when a student burns two hours listening to sound clips so he can make a photo of Langston Hughes zoom onto his PowerPoint slide to the sound of screeching brakes, well, he's probably not doing much thinking about the Harlem Renaissance.

So when you're assigning work that requires the creative use of tech, be mindful of how much time students are putting into the bells and whistles. Look at your rubric and make sure you haven't required too many of these bells and whistles to begin with. And if possible, see if they can make the bells and whistles relevant: If students want sound in their slideshow about the Harlem Renaissance, have them add a Duke Ellington song, music that's actually from that era, rather than a funny sound effect.

3. Low-Level Thinking

Most of the thinking in a Grecian Urn task is on the lowest level of Bloom's Taxonomy. In other words, the task appears to be creative, but the primary academic work is rearranging and regurgitating basic facts or definitions.

Let's look at two possible assignments for students to demonstrate their understanding of the Food Pyramid. In one class, the teacher has students re-create the pyramid as a hanging mobile. They write all the parts of the pyramid on pieces of colored paper and hang those papers onto a hanger or something. They might also be asked to draw or cut out magazine pictures of foods that represent items within each part of the pyramid. All of this work is at the Remember and Understand level of Bloom's. Students are more or less defining stuff, and yet the task still takes an awfully long time to complete. Grecian Urn.

But what's the point of teaching the Food Pyramid? Don't we want students to learn it so they can make healthy eating choices? Here's a different assignment: Have students write up a 3-day eating plan that applies the principles of the Pyramid. Sure, they can draw a border around it if they like. This will take five minutes. They can choose a cool font for the headings; that's 10 minutes. But shouldn't the real time-consuming work be put into deeply wrestling with the content itself?

4. Big Points for "Creativity"

An assignment might be a Grecian Urn if a significant part of the grade is based on "creativity" or "attractiveness." And by the way, I'm a big design snob. I think presentation is important. But if more than 10 percent of a grade is based on these things-and I even think 10 percent is pushing it-we're not measuring the learning that's supposed to be taking place.

The fix for this couldn't be easier. Cut way back on the points you assign for creativity or attractiveness. And if you find that the projects you get don't excite you because they are not colorful or pretty, it's time to start planning projects that will excite you with their content.

5. Word Search

If the task is a word search, there's a very strong chance it is a Grecian Urn. Some argument could probably be made for how word searches reinforce letter recognition in the very early grades. Fine. But if some form of letter recognition, decoding skill, or language development is not the curricular intent of your word search, then your word search is probably a Grecian Urn. If you are a teacher who doesn't have time to do things like project-based learning or Genius Hour, but you have time to make word searches and have students spend time doing them? Drop the word searches and you just bought yourself and your students at least 30 extra minutes per week.

So you have identified a couple of Grecian Urns in your lessons. What do you do about them?

One option is to cut them out. Just move those lessons out of your plan book and replace them with activities that will actually result in learning. Look again at your goals: What do you want students to know or be able to do by the time they're done? And what tasks will help them get there?

The other option is to revise them. Let's go back to Eric and his urns. Maybe instead of using up three class days on all that wet newspaper business, he could have students draw their urns on paper. He could build the historical relevance by providing students with images of typical Greek urns, have them choose one, then draw their own urn with images that parallel those in the original, but with a modern twist. So if the urn they choose depicts a battle, they might draw something on their own that represents a significant war or other "battle" that has occurred in the last century. Students could then add captions to their drawings, pointing out these details and the thinking behind them.

If you really like your Grecian Urn activity, you don't have to completely drop it. But if you can tweak it to make it take less time and build in more curricular relevance, you've made it a lot less "urn-y" and, in turn, given it a more rightful place in your classroom.

Having said all this, I think it's important to note that not all classroom activities have to have a clearly defined, rigorous academic purpose. There will be times when a task that would be called a Grecian Urn in one context serves a completely different purpose in another.

The Fun Loophole
Building relationships with students, creating a family-like atmosphere, and making the classroom a place students love to come has incredible value. If I didn't believe this, I never would have written something called When a Principal Whips and Nae-Naes. Some things should just be done for fun. If students absolutely love playing with the drawing app on their iPads, make that an option for free time. If students want to create a collage as a thank-you gift for a departing student, by all means let them.

The Sanity Loophole
At other times, you just need your students to be still and quiet. Maybe you're coming down with a stomach bug or you just got bad news over the phone. Maybe the morning assembly left you with only 6 minutes of class time and you know you're not going to get anything done. Maybe they have driven you to the absolute brink and you're about to start throwing things. The best teachers in the world have days when they just can't be on. At those times, good old-fashioned busywork is like manna from heaven. That's when you have them color. That's when you pull out the word searches.

When used for fun or sanity, these tasks are no longer Grecian Urns; they're more like classroom management strategies. The important thing is to know the difference.

That's what I tried to teach Eric as we revised his unit. We had him use some graphic organizer activities, where students did side-by-side comparisons of ancient Greek and modern-day cultural elements. Students then completed a lengthy questionnaire, where they took on the identity of a person in Ancient Greece. Each student chose a social rank, age, and gender, and wrote about what their life was like. Some questions asked them to describe their feelings about other people in their community and about social issues. They had to draw a few sketches of some of the artifacts in their daily life and describe why these artifacts were important to them. Once all students completed these questionnaires, they worked together to arrange them on a wall in a way that represented their social hierarchy.

The activity took three days. Students collaborated, used technology to research their person's life, and even used a bit of color for their sketches. In the end, they understood a lot more about ancient Greek culture and about how culture influences who we are.

And they did it all without a single strip of gluey newspaper. ♦

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Far too many students are doing projects that look creative but offer almost no opportunity for real learning. Time for the Grecian Urns to go.

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Center for Teaching and Learning | Wiley Education Services

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Assessment is a critical component of the online classroom. It provides students with an idea of their progress in a course, identifies individual strengths and weaknesses, and ultimately serves as the measure of whether students achieve the course's learning objectives. Although each of these characteristics serves a valuable instructional or pedagogical function, it's also important that assessments engage students and prepare them with the skills they'll need in future courses, practicums, and even their careers.

Assessment isn't just important from a student perspective. With the online marketplace becoming increasingly crowded, it's critical that institutions ensure they are offering the courses and experiences that students are looking for.

In their survey of more than 1,500 past, present, and prospective online college students, Magda and Aslanian (2018) found that 74% of online college students are pursuing their program for career-focused reasons, such as transitioning to a new career, updating the skills required for their current job, increasing wages, or meeting employers' requirements.

Because the majority of online students are career-focused, courses and degree programs must provide those ties to the real world for institutions to stand out in the online landscape. Given its importance to the online classroom, assessment can be a great starting point for integrating this type of relevance into your course.

Authentic assessment is the idea of using creative learning experiences to test students' skills and knowledge in realistic situations. Authentic assessment measures students' success in a way that's relevant to the skills required of them once they've finished your course or degree program. In this article, we'll discuss the benefits and challenges of this type of assessment and how you can incorporate authentic assessment in your online course.

What Is Authentic Assessment?

Before we dig too far into how to create an authentic assessment, let's look at what makes an assessment authentic. Wiggins (1998) identifies a few key criteria:

1. It's realistic.

2. It requires judgement and innovation.

3. It asks the student to "do" the subject.

4. It replicates or simulates the contexts in which adults are "tested" in the workplace, in civic life, and in personal life.

5. It assesses the student's ability to efficiently and effectively use a repertoire of knowledge and skill to negotiate a complex task.

6. It allows appropriate opportunities to rehearse, practice, consult resources, and get feedback on and refine performances and products.

Simply put, an authentic assessment is one that requires students to apply what they've learned in a new, complex circumstance or situation. Typically, this can take one of two forms: real-world assessments that require students to engage in actual situations in their field, or realistic assessments that are relevant in nature but have students engage in situations that mimic the real world (e.g., a case study).

Regardless of the type, authentic assessment is often coupled with opportunities for rehearsal and/or practice. Authentic assessments are often scaffolded throughout a course and allow the instructor to provide feedback that students can then implement in subsequent drafts. Unlike traditional assessments (such as essays and multiple-choice exams), authentic assessments ask students to engage in scenarios or practices that are complex, realistic, and sometimes messy.

Benefits of Authentic Assessment

Shank (2009) identifies a few key challenges of assessments in the online environment: expecting a bell curve, using the wrong type of assessment (performance assessments vs. test assessments), not creating valid (enough) assessments, and using poorly written multiple-choice tests. Although authentic assessment is unlikely to overcome all of these challenges, it offers a number of benefits in an online course.

Notably, authentic assessment breaks the traditional paradigm of multiple-choice or automatically scoring tests and quizzes, which can lead students to believe that learning means staying up all night and cramming to memorize terms or expected answers. Instead, authentic assessments tend to be more student centered, as they ask students to demonstrate their learning through hands-on activities. Rather than asking students to memorize and recall facts, authentic assessments ask students to actively participate in situations that require them to apply the principles they've learned about in the instructional material. Thus, learning isn't about recalling; it's about performing, which, ideally, will motivate students to engage in the course and succeed in their endeavors.

Drawbacks of Authentic Assessment

As beneficial as authentic assessments can be, they do present challenges as well. First and foremost, authentic assessments require more time for both students and instructors than traditional assessments. For students, authentic assessments typically take longer to complete than an average quiz or test. Because these types of assessments are task based, they might be scaffolded over a number of modules or some other period of time. In addition, students might be more accustomed to traditional assessment, meaning that despite the advantages we've discussed, they might need some time to adjust to this new method.

For instructors, time is also of concern. Developing an authentic assessment can be an intense experience that requires course writers to identify and/or research relevant tasks, ensure that those tasks are applicable to students in different areas, and align those tasks with learning objectives and instructional materials. Also, given that students in online courses tend to be in a variety of geographic locations, it can be difficult to build an authentic assessment that's relevant to everyone. This challenge can vary by discipline, but it's important for course writers to remember that their students can be from anywhere.

In addition, unlike many traditional assessments, grading an authentic assessment is largely subjective. Because these types of assessments typically address more complex levels of learning, grading will likely take much longer. Authentic assessments typically require detailed, personalized, and specific feedback, meaning that, as beneficial as they can be for students and your course, they will require additional time to design and implement.

Education
Create a classroom management plan and/or lesson plan for the student's subject matter and/or intended audience.

Nursing
Assess a mock patient's health and plan and implement that patient's care.

Business
Develop a business plan for a company in the student's location and desired field.

Computer Science

Troubleshoot faulty code or create a website or application.

Exercise Science
Record and analyze a mock client's diet and come up with a nutrition and/or exercise plan.

How to Develop an Authentic Assessment

Now that we've explored the benefits and drawbacks of authentic assessment and looked at a handful of examples, let's move on to the steps involved in designing one. The following steps, based on those developed by the University of Florida's Center for Instructional Technology and Training (2018), can help set you on your way toward developing an authentic assessment that addresses your learning objectives, enhances your course, and meets your students' needs.

Identify Learning Objectives

Your learning objectives are the cornerstone of your course; they communicate what students should be able to do and what skills they'll develop during the course. Thus, it goes without saying that developing an authentic assessment should begin with these objectives. By starting this process with an objective in mind, you ensure that the authentic assessment you're developing will align with the objective and any corresponding instructional material.

In most instances, you'll want to focus on a macro objective-that is, an objective that illustrates what students will be able to do by the conclusion of the course. In a traditional setting, a final exam might be the assessment for a macro objective.

When you look at your objectives, it's also important to keep relevance in mind. After all, one of the major benefits of an authentic assessment is how it allows students to engage in a relevant or new environment, so you'll want to make sure that your learning objectives lend themselves to that type of activity. If your learning objectives are already measurable and student centered, though, this shouldn't be a problem.

Define Relevant Tasks

After identifying the learning objective(s) you're looking to measure through your authentic assessment, you can then start defining what students will actually do. Given that the assessment should be, well, authentic, start by looking at what professionals in your field do on a daily basis and how those tasks might relate to your selected learning objective. Although your task doesn't ultimately have to relate to your field, it should require students to apply themselves in a relevant and new situation. Ultimately, the relevance of your assessment to students' lives and/or goals should be clear. In fact, it's helpful to state the relevance explicitly at the outset of the assessment.

If you're struggling to identify a relevant task, consider starting with the verb of your learning objective. Oftentimes, you'll find that you're able to define your task by looking at what the objective asks students to do. For instance, if the objective for a business course is that students will be able to analyze the local and global impact of organizational decisions, consider creating a fictional scenario in which students have to make organizational decisions for a business and analyze the impact of those decisions. Looking at your objective's verb also ensures that your assessment aligns with your learning objective, which is a pillar of effective course design.

Identify Essential Performance Criteria

If the previous step was to define what students will do to complete your authentic assessment, this step focuses on how you'll know whether they've done it well. After all, just because an authentic assessment doesn't look like a traditional assessment doesn't mean that the goal isn't the same. You still need to have an indication of how well students have performed and whether they've achieved mastery.

With this in mind, it's important for these performance criteria to align with the nature of your task. To return to our business example from earlier, you'd want to make sure that the way you measure students' performance is reflective of or similar to the expectations they would encounter in a business scenario. For example, you'd want to create performance criteria specific to how students should make the organizational decisions and how accurately and/or appropriately they analyze those decisions. Although students shouldn't be held to the same standards as professionals in the field (they're novices, after all), it's still possible to measure student success in a new and relevant way.

Develop a Rubric

Rubrics are a powerful tool for many assessment types, and they're an essential component of authentic assessment. After all, authentic assessments are fairly subjective, and rubrics help ensure instructors are grading fairly and consistently from assessment to assessment and student to student. With this in mind, once you've identified the task and essential performance criteria (that is, what students will do and what benchmarks exist to make sure students do it well), the next step is to develop a rubric.

You might be thinking that this seems pretty similar to that last step. Well, it is! When designing your rubric, you should use the performance criteria you've identified and come up with measurable levels for each. Once you've developed your rubric, consider presenting it to students before they begin the assessment. That way, they know what you expect of them and can more readily gauge their own performance.

For more information on rubrics, feel free to check out our article "The Benefits of Rubrics in Online Courses."

Conclusion

Authentic assessment has the outstanding ability to make a long-lasting impact on not only your course, but also the students enrolled in it. By providing students with an opportunity to test their skills in new and relevant situations, you'll prepare them for how they'll be assessed in their professional lives and show them the relevance of your course's content outside the classroom. With that in mind, here are some of the key takeaways from this article:

Authentic assessment refers to an assessment that requires students to apply what they've learned in a new circumstance or situation, typically one that mirrors what would be expected of them in that discipline or field.

When preparing an authentic assessment for your course, remember that this kind of assessment will likely take more time on both the students' and facilitator's parts.

Authentic assessments should always align with the course's learning objective(s).

When identifying a relevant task for your learning objective(s), consider starting with the objective's verb. In most cases, this will provide an idea of what actions students should be able to perform.

Essential performance criteria help frame what performance will look like. Without them, it's difficult to assess students' work on a fair and consistent basis. Fortunately, instructors can use these criteria to develop a rubric, which in turn helps them evaluate fairly and consistently.

References

Magda, A. J., & Aslanian, C. B. (2018). Online college students 2018: Comprehensive data on demands and preferences. Louisville, KY: The Learning House, Inc.

Shank, P. (2009, May). Four typical online learning assessment mistakes. In R. Kelly (Ed.), Assessing online learning: Strategies, challenges and opportunities (pp. 4-6). Madison, WI: Magna Publications Inc. Available from https://www.facultyfocus.com/free-reports/assessing-online-learning-strategies-challenges-and-opportunities/

University of Florida. (2018). Authentic assessment in online learning. Retrieved from http://citt.ufl.edu/online-teaching-resources/assessments/authentic-assessment-in-online-learning/

Wiggins, G. (1998). Education assessment: Designing assessments to inform and improve student performance. San Francisco: Joey-Bass Publishers.

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Authentic Assessment in the Online Classroom - Center for Teaching and Learning | Wiley Education Services

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Assessment is a critical component of the online classroom. It provides students with an idea of their progress in a course, identifies individual strengths and weaknesses, and ultimately serves as the measure of whether students achieve the course's learning objectives.

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Learner Assessment in Online Courses: Best Practices & More

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Learner Assessment in Online Courses: Best Practices & More

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Selecting assessment activities is a powerful way to achieve learning outcomes and to assure course completion. It determines the degree to which each of our goals has been reached-hence the degree to which your course is successful and valuable. How should someone design assessments in online learning?

Good course design that aligns competencies with outcomes is critical. Therefore, if you've kept in mind the fundamental questions "What do I want my students learn to do?" and "How will they show their skills, attitudes, and abilities"? it will be much easier to develop the appropriate assessment strategy.

Speaking about online courses, most instructors provide a final quiz at the end of their course and a passing score accompanied by a certificate. This is a good start to apply assessment but is it enough? Probably not. Assessment works best when it is ongoing, not episodic. This way, you can also show students their progress in the course and what they achieved in each step of the way. Harasim, Hiltz, Teles, & Turoff (1996, p. 167) for example say that:

"In keeping with a learner-centered approach, assessment should be part of the learning-teaching process, embedded in-class activities and in the interactions between learners and between learners and teachers."

This assumption brings a lot to the table, which we are going to discuss here. There is a variety of ways you can and should embed assessment in your online course instead of just a simple exam at the end of it. So, it is time we share some valuable knowledge with you now!

Types of assessment in online learning
The first thing an online instructor should be aware of is the two different types of assessments that the educational theory indicates: The formative and summative.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment gathers information all the way throughout a course. This information is then used to guide teaching and to improve learning and performance. The key component of formative assessment is feedback, whether the assessment is a graded quiz or written assignment or student participation in a discussion forum.

Summative assessment

Summative assessment gathers and analyzes student at the conclusion of a course whether students have achieved identified goals. Summative assessments typically result in a score or grade. A culminating final exam or performance task is an example of a summative assessment.

Another important term to consider is the term "Authentic assessment". How can we bring the "real world " into online learning? Application activities, like case studies can be considered authentic activities. Authentic activities demonstrate not only acquisition of knowledge but the ability to apply that knowledge in professional or other settings. They become even more meaningful when we call students to reflect on what they have learnt. When the activities closely align with what they aim to learn learners are more willing to participate in your activities.

The importance of formative assessment and feedback

A successful online course needs to include summative as well as formative assessment. Ascertaining that the desired goals of learning have been met doesn't serve only the purpose to give a final score to learners. On the contrary, assessment activities should be integrated into several parts of the course, providing ongoing feedback.

This means that you can include questionnaires and mini scored- exams in several parts of your course, not only in the end. This kind of assessment aims to support learning until the desired level of knowledge has been achieved. Formative assessment provides:

Evidence that learners engage and participate.

Demonstrable measures of learner progress within the course.

Ways to give feedback to learners.

Opportunities for learners to apply their knowledge and skills and identify where they lack understanding.

This is the rubric of how your course should look like:

How should someone give feedback?

Exams and quizzes provide immediate feedback to students - particularly crucial for formative assessment. However, the most effective type of feedback for improving learning is specific to the individual student, and there is no getting around the fact that this type of accurate, timely and meaningful feedback is labour-intensive- when you have to comment assignments, for example.

Or when you have to write feedback to the text with feedback questions:

Assessment Practices for Online Courses

What is the best way to apply all the above? Here is a practical guide on how you can create an assessment in your course following four crucial steps starting from today:

1Link your assessment with the course objectives

Determine the required objectives for your course and determine specific assessment activities that will show learners mastery of them. Given that course objectives are measurable, it is effortless to design the assessments based on them. Read how you can create learning objectives here.

Learning goals, the teaching activities, and the assessment should be aligned, thus reflect and support each other. Form questions that assess what you expect your learners to have learned. This is an essential prerequisite of learner satisfaction and achievement.

2Add assessments in every part of your course

a) At the beginning of your course

Use quiz techniques to assess pre-existing knowledge of your learners to get to know them better and engage with them in the course. For example, you can use one of the two methods below:

1. Create quizzes with interrelated questions to introduce your topic. Background knowledge probes prepare learners about what they are about to learn.

2. Create one or more free response questions and ask learners to list ideas that are related to your course topic before they even begin studying.

b)Throughout your course

This is an example of providing an ongoing assessment.

Apart from quizzes also include assignments which you can visit anytime once submitted and provide feedback. Learners receive your feedback with an email and notification.

c)At the end of your course

Add assessment activities at the end of the course that includes questions from each of your sections. In the end, it is necessary to assess learners achievement based on a variety of assessment types:

Questionnaires

Graded assignments

Questions inside videos and

Discussion posts

In questionnaires (set as exams) you can set a higher passing score than before and congrats learners if they pass the score. You can also choose from a variety of options like duration in minutes, question order, number of tries, showing mistakes, etc.

If they fail, prompt them to repeat the sections they struggle with. Remember to always speak kindly in your feedback and expand upon the learner's knowledge.

d)Through your discussion posts

Yes, assessment can take place also in your course discussions!

Sounds weird?
Sometimes you may not be satisfied with low-level tests and quizzes because they are too weak and do not assess critical thinking. Hence, they may not adequately represent what the student has learned.

Instructors now are searching for new ways to assess learner performance online, and much academic research has focused on learner assessment through discussions because it's a place where instructors can provide valuable feedback.

You can initiate valuable learner conversations by posting several questions according to a plan on the discussion board or create forums/groups in your school's community and let people discuss different topics.

Consider how many posts per week will you use and monitor and adapt your questions to the learners' responses so that they don't get repetitive and boring.

How can I evaluate learning outcomes through discussions?

A standard means of assessing conversations are rubrics. Rubrics are predefined criteria, which help to define the characteristics of a high - quality discussion. Rubrics also provide a range of categories that span the range of possible outcomes, from basic to exceptional performance on a task. Let people know about your evaluation system. Write a report of your evaluation and share it with them in a private message. They will appreciate this personalized approach!

A rubric can look like that:

The learner can include and apply relevant course concepts, theories, or materials correctly.

The learner can respond to fellow learners, relating the discussion to relevant course concepts and providing substantive feedback.

The learner can apply relevant professional, personal, or other real-world experiences.

The learner can support position with appropriate resources.

You can also use alternative assessment techniques by promoting learner contributions to the discussion board. Assist learners to create their understanding and provide the assessment that encourages them to do something to prove knowledge acquisition rather than taking a test or quiz. Prompting learners to do something also highly contributes to the retention of knowledge gained. Here are some examples of alternative assessment activities:
"Show and tell."
Ask learners to document the steps they take a specific project or problem-solving you have taught through your course, and they have learned. Ask them to share this document with the rest of your learners. This way you not only assess learning but also enhance the sense of community in your class.
"Autobiographical sketches"
Encourage learners to write a two-page autobiographical note relating and discussing an experience in which they learned something significant related to your topic. Advise them to focus not only on what they learned but also why they learned from that particular experience and share it in the discussion.

Other products that occur through activities that assess learning and can be shared are:

"Response to video"
Learners watch a video and respond with a written analysis to specific questions. Then, they share their thoughts with the rest of the learners.

"Collaborative projects"
You can ask groups of two people to collaborate, promote their creativity and produce one of the above products together. Collaborative assessment strengthens the foundation of an online learning community. By learning together have the opportunity to deepen their learning experience, test out and share new ideas with a supportive group, and receive critical and constructive feedback. Although group projects, and particularly the assessment of those projects, can be more challenging in the online environment, establishing guidelines for collaboration and collaborative assessment can help with this task.

We can see how modern teaching opposes the one-dimensional perception of assessment as the result of tests and obtain a more holistic view that perceives assessment as an ongoing process which forms the course circle.

3How should I form my questions?

Outcomes and learning activities are generally created with an eye toward moving students from basic levels of understanding of concepts to the ability to apply those concepts in a professional or academic setting, in other words, from what are considered to be lower - order skills to higher - order skills. To accomplish this, many educators have turned to Bloom's Taxonomy of educational objectives (Bloom & Krathwohl, 1956) for assistance.

Bloom' s Taxonomy lays out levels of outcomes regarding increasing complexity, which build on one another, and to which activities and assessments can be mapped.

To write course outcomes and assessment activities that match Bloom' s levels,
an instructor would determine the cognitive level of the desired outcome and then
choose action verbs that measure the outcome at that level. It cannot be overstressed that verb choice is critical to the measurement of outcomes.

Αssessment questions could include the specific verbs suggested for each learning level. Alternatively, use the sample questions shown in this table:

Knowledge or Remembering

Comprehension

Application

Analysis

Synthesis

Evaluation

Who, what, when, where, how?

How do we define...?

What are the main ideas?

Give examples of...

How is...an example of...?

How is... related to ...?

Why is...significant?

What are the parts or features of...?

Classify according to...

How does...compare or contrast with...?

What evidence is there for...?

What would you infer or predict from...?

What ideas can you add to...?

How would you create or design...?

What might happen if you...?

Do you agree that...?

What do you think about...?

Prioritize and give a rationale for...

Decision making - what is your rationale...?

Criteria for assessing...

4Give self-assessment opportunities

Reflection and self-assessment are essential components if you want your environment to become even more learner-focused. What you should do is urge learners to assess themselves! Self-assessment is an exceptional technique that will increase the learners' satisfaction. Be sure to:

- Incorporate your expectations for self-assessment at the beginning of your course (where you communicate your objectives for example.

- Provide learners a reflective diary (in PDF form), where they can record their reflections about their own experiences, opinions, attitudes, and feelings and encourage them to register all these at the end of each section. To guide this self-assessment provide personal reflection questions that are suitable for each learning section:

In which degree have I realized...?

At what moment did I feel most engaged?

Which information did I find most affirming and helpful?

Which information did I find most puzzling or confusing and do I need to study again?

Assessment Considerations and Tips

As part of your planning, you will need to make some choices about the types of assessment you'll use. Any activity with feedback is a potential assessment, either "formative" or "summative". What matters most is that the assessment:

Is relevant to the objectives and goals of the course.

Is appropriate for the level and scope of the course content.

Is clearly outlined to students via logically organized instructions.

Next, make sure that you vary your mix of assessments so that you:

Test competency, not memory: Assessment shouldn't be about what people know; it's about what they can do.

Make sure that your assessments help your students develop a sense of confidence, which will, in turn, encourage them to stay engaged and complete the course.

Let learners do it whenever they want to. If learners may have prior learning in the topic, let them prove it and 'test out' if they're competent.

If you have an "end of course" final assessment, make sure that it covers all of the learning outcomes included in the course.

Conclusions

In this article, we showcased an online learning assessment. Why is it so crucial that you include assessments in your course? Because showing progress to your students as they move through the course is a surefire way to boost motivation. Demonstrate and celebrate milestones they achieve that take them closer to their goal with appropriate feedback.

Don't forget to include exams, authentic assessments, collaborative projects, self - assessments, and weekly assignments that include discussion assignments. Also, use rubrics that establish performance expectations and provide a sound basis for self - assessment.

Most of all, avoid the trap of looking solely at metrics completion rates. These are not always a good indicator of whether your student found value in your course. Instead ask your students. Did they meet their goals? If the answer is yes, this means that you have made a difference in their lives and that you are successful as a course creator.

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Learner Assessment in Online Courses: Best Practices & More

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Selecting assessment activities is a powerful way to achieve learning outcomes and to assure course completion. It determines the degree to which each of our goals has been reached-hence the degree to which your course is successful and valuable. How should someone design assessments in online learning?

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9 Ways to Assess Student Learning Online

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9 Ways to Assess Student Learning Online

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Student assessment has changed in the new millennium. Though there's something to be said for old-fashioned paper and pencil methods, new technologies are evolving daily to assist teachers with this task.

In this article, we'll look at different ways to assess student learning using technology. Here are nine methods of online assessment that are sure to support training, engage your audience, and provide teachers with insight into their students' learning process. But first, let's understand the assessment process.

What Is Assessment?

Simply put, assessment is the process of gathering information on what students know based on their educational experience. The results are typically used to identify areas where improvement is needed and ensure that the course content meets learning needs.

What is the purpose of assessment?

As per the definition, the common goal of assessment is to evaluate and improve student learning, but the objectives can vary slightly, depending on the type of assessment that's used.

There are two basic types:

Formative assessments occur within an online course or lesson and are used to determine how well a student is learning the material. They're best when they are ongoing, consistent, and provide critical feedback to learners.

Summative assessments are sometimes referred to as a final exam and measure what the student has learned after completing a course. They can validate how well your content supports the course's overall learning goals.

Obviously, assessments are about more than just grades. When meaningful and well-constructed, they help students gear up for success by challenging them to reflect, interact, and apply their knowledge to answer questions, solve problems, and communicate information.

How Do You Evaluate Students Online?

There are several approaches for evaluating students:

The best method to use will vary, based on the learning needs and objectives. For example, an online quiz will be appropriate if your goal is to measure knowledge gains quickly. But if you want to test your students' interviewing skills, you're better off using a dialogue simulation.

9 Ways to Assess Student Learning Online

Let's see how we can use nine of the most common assessment methods to support student learning. Сheck out this infographic for an overview.

1. Online Quizzes

Quizzes are a traditional assessment tool. Plus, when paired with technology, they are an excellent way to engage student learning. Quiz questions can take a number of forms, such as multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blanks, and hotspots. One benefit of quizzes is that they are short and easy to assess. Another is that question order and options can be randomized, so each student's quiz is unique.

Online quizzes are ideal for measuring learning results across a wide audience. Since each student takes the same test, you can compare and contrast results across different classes, schools, or communities.

A non-graded online quiz can be given prior to the start of a lesson to gain a baseline measurement of a student's existing knowledge. You can also embed a knowledge check test into a module to reinforce concepts taught in the lesson, or make a final graded test at the end of the course to evaluate students' overall performance.

How can I create an online quiz?

Online quizzes can be easily created using an eLearning authoring toolkit such as iSpring Suite. iSpring Suite includes a quiz maker tool that offers 14 question types. You simply need to choose the appropriate templates to put together a quiz for your students quickly and easily. You can enhance your test by providing detailed answer feedback, adding info slides, and creating individual learning paths, depending on how well each employee is performing on the quiz.

2. Open-Ended/Essay Questions

Open-ended or essay-type questions are one of the most popular qualitative assessment methods. They prompt learners to explore their thoughts, feelings, and opinions, while testing their overall comprehension of a topic. This type of question encourages critical thinking and is best suited for evaluating higher-level learning. Essay questions require a longer time for students to think, organize, and compose their answers.

How can I create an open-ended assessment?

Open-ended assessments are one of the question types available in iSpring Suite. Unlike many other questions types, they cannot be auto-scored in online courses, so instructors will have to take the time to review them one by one.

3. Drag-And-Drop Activities

Drag-and-drops are a type of assessment that show a learner's ability to link information and apply knowledge to solve a practical problem. You can incorporate both images and text in a drag-and-drop activity, giving it a real-world feel that is both challenging and engaging.

It's essential to use this assessment type when you want learners to be able to apply knowledge in a real-life situation.

How can I create a drag-and-drop activity?

iSpring Suite provides a drag-and-drop template that allows you to move text boxes, images, and shapes to a specific place on the page. To create an assessment, you need to upload the images into a question template and then simply identify the drop target.

4. Online Interviews

You can incorporate a video conference within your online teaching to give learning a more personal touch. During brief online interviews, students can demonstrate their proficiency in language, music, nursing, and other courses, for example, where mastery of specific skills is an important requirement. Sometimes it may be beneficial to conduct group interviews - for team project reports, for example.

Interviews can also include a mentoring component enabling students to get immediate feedback from instructors and help them feel more responsible about their studies.

How can I create an online interview?

You can share online interviews with the help of web conferencing tools like Zoom. For best results, take the time to plan out your interview before it begins. Prepare your questions in advance and schedule a time for the meeting to occur. Allow your online learners a way to provide feedback or interact with the interviews.
Zoom Boom: How to Bring Training to "Live" →
5. Dialogue Simulations

A dialogue simulation is a way to train learners for real-life conversations with customers, colleagues, and others. When creating a conversation activity based on a situation that a student may face on the job, let them know what to expect and provide a safe place to practice their reactions and responses.

For example, with dialogue simulations, you can help your students master sales and customer service skills or test how well they are prepared for a job interview. These activities can also be a good learning support tool for experienced workers who want to refresh skills they haven't used in a while.

How can I create a dialogue simulation?

You can create activities similar to dialogue simulations manually, using simple slides, but it will take you a lot of time and effort to create this kind of branching scenario in PowerPoint. But with iSpring Suite, you can design a conversation sim quickly and easily.

Start by mapping out the scenario you want to create. Think over the scenario and script, choose a suitable character and location from the built-in library or upload your own, and create a dialogue with iSpring by offering learners a choice of responses and giving feedback. As with a typical quiz, learners will get points for correct answers and lose points for inaccurate ones.

6. Online Polls

Polls allow you to capture feedback directly from your audience about their learning experience. They can be used to measure anything from learning satisfaction (Kirkpatrick Level One feedback) to why a student made a particular choice during a lesson. Online surveys are highly engaging for learners because they allow them to share their opinions, make themselves heard, and are quick to complete.

You can also use poll questions when you want to quickly grab and focus your learners' attention on something important or break the ice during an online group interview session. For the latter, you can simply carry out a mood survey.

How can I create an online poll question?

If you host webinars via web conferencing solutions, you can use built-in tools for conducting polls. There are also some specialized online platforms like SurveyMonkey that allow you to create, send, and analyze surveys.

You can also build a survey with eLearning authoring tools like iSpring Suite. All you have to do is to choose a ready-made question template supported by the iSpring QuizMaker tool, write the question and answer choices, or a text field for open-ended responses.

7. Game-Type Activities

Game-type activities turn a series of test questions into a game. For example, a trivia game might ask learners to answer a certain number of questions within a period of time and award points based on the number of correct answers.

Game-based assessments are considered fun, and not "tests", so they are generally a good indicator of true skills and knowledge. Besides, they have been shown to enhance learning by promoting the development of non-cognitive skills, such as discipline, risk-taking, collaboration, and problem solving.

Add game-type activities when you want to engage and challenge your students in a non-traditional way. Organizations have found that game-type activities work well in employee training, while schools have found that high-achieving students enjoy competing with their peers in learning games.

How can I create game-type activities?

Quizlet and Kahoot are two popular applications that teachers can use to create fast-paced interactive learning games. Quizlet allows you to create a study set of online flashcards for learning terms and definitions, while with Kahoot, you can build engaging quizzes and let your students score points by answering quickly and correctly.

There are also many other apps, such as GimKit, Formative, and Plickers, that can add a game-show experience to the classroom.

8. Peer Evaluation and Review

Peer evaluation turns the tables to put learners into the instructor's seat and allow students to review and edit each other's work. Such activities give each participant a chance to reflect on their knowledge and then communicate their feedback in a consistent and structured way.

How can I create a peer evaluation assessment?

Third-party platforms, such as TurnItIn's Feedback Studio, enable students to read, review, and evaluate one or more papers submitted by their classmates using rubrics or prescribed assessment questions. Teachers are able to log in and track individual participation in the activity and monitor comments or peer evaluation feedback.

As a best practice, the instructor should map out and clearly explain the steps of a peer review and evaluation process prior to launch. Be sure to provide a rubric or set of guidelines for each participant to follow to ensure that evaluations are conducted in a consistent manner.

9. Forum Posts

A forum is an online discussion board organized around a topic. Asking students to contribute to a forum post is an excellent way to gauge their understanding, pique their interest, and support their learning. In this activity, students are given a critical thinking question based on a lesson or a reading, and are asked to reflect on both. Their answers are posted to a forum and their peers are given the chance to respond.

Use this method when you want learners to interact, communicate, and collaborate as part of the learning process, while checking their comprehension of the topic.

How can I create a forum post assessment activity?

Start by creating an online message board exclusively for your class in your LMS or some external platform like ActiveBoard. Identify common topics or themes that you can align messages to. Set participation goals and guidelines that explain acceptable standards for posting (be respectful of others, avoid foul language or personal criticism, etc.).

The facilitator should review postings on a regular basis and provide constructive feedback or guidance to participants.

10 Online Assessment Tools for Distance Learning

We've already mentioned some assessment tools that are perfect for online evaluation. Let's sum up what software instructors might need for which purposes, and consider some other tools.

1. iSpring Suite

iSpring Suite is a comprehensive eLearning authoring toolkit that teachers and instructors love. It allows you to create interactive quizzes, surveys, and dialogue simulations for student assessment, as well as PowerPoint-based courses, video tutorials, interactions, and flipbooks. Despite having so many options, the toolkit is extremely easy to use and is perfectly suited for those who have no experience in eLearning content development.

2. Socrative

Socrative is a quiz making tool that enables you to create tests with multiple-choice, true/false, and short answer questions. It also has some interesting features like exit tickets for the students to gather feedback on the lesson and a fun Space Race game where students "race" to the finish line.

3. Spiral

Spiral is a set of 5 apps for formative assessment. You can provide assessment in real time and hear from all of your students, turn slides into a discussion thread, let students create and share collaborative presentations, and turn videos into a live chat with questions and quizzes.

4. Peergrade

Peergrade is an online platform for hosting peer feedback sessions with students. Once you set up your assignment, learners start working on and then submit their work - text, files, videos, links, and even Google docs. Students can review each other's works and act on the feedback. There's also a teacher overview where they can see everything that is happening in the assignment.

5. EdPuzzle

EdPuzzle is a tool designed specifically for working with videos. It allows both teachers and students to add voice-overs, resources, comments, and quizzes to videos. Instructors can also check if learners are watching videos, how many times they're watching each section, and if they comprehend the content.

6. Mentimeter

Mentimeter lets you build interactive presentations with 13 interactive question types, including word clouds and quiz, and see how the students vote on/respond to questions and engage with the presentation in real time. With this tool, you can export results in a PDF or Excel file, and analyze learners' results.

Also read: → Best Interactive Presentation Tools for Teachers

7. Google Forms

Google Forms is a simple widely used tool for building surveys and graded quizzes. You can create multiple-choice or short answer questions for students to complete, specify correct answers and points, and provide feedback for correct and incorrect responses.

8. Quizalize

Quizalize is very similar to Kahoot. It lets you choose from over 12,000 official released tests to teacher-created resources or allows you to build your own. You can get instant data on each student's progress and automatically assign various resources to students depending on their quiz score.

9. Nearpod

Nearpod is a web-based tool for making interactive classes with engaging activities like virtual reality, simulations, and gamified quizzes. It allows you to remain abreast of how far along your students are with formative assessments, including polls, open-ended questions, draw its, and more. You can get student insights in real time and in post-session reports.

10. Fluency Tutor

Fluency Tutor is designed to track and assess students' oral reading progress. You can share reading passages with your class and receive recordings of the assigned passages. The tool comes with a library of over 500 ready-made reading fluency passages.

Final Thoughts

Online assessments are a critical part of eLearning and should be undertaken with the same level of care and rigor that you put into creating your learning content. The good news is that you don't have to be a programming genius to build them. There are many online assessment tools that allow you to generate engaging tasks for online evaluation. Choose your way to assess student learning and related software to align your needs and the results you want to achieve.

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9 Assessment Methods for Using Online Learning [Infographics]

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Check out these nine online assessment strategies that will support both classroom and distance learning, and provide insight into your students' results.

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What Does Assessment Look Like in Our Current Reality?

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What Does Assessment Look Like in Our Current Reality?

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Covid-19 has created unprecedented circumstances for learning: there is nothing "normal" with respect to how students, teachers, and parents are interacting. Our default is to return to what we know, understand, and have experienced in order to make sense of the world. As parents, we want to know that our children are learning and we want to understand the extent to which they are learning. As teachers, we want the same, with the added intention of meeting students where they are and planning for further instruction to enhance their understanding.

Typically planning for student learning is informed by assessment: data and evidence related to learner outcomes allows the teacher to communicate with their informed professional judgment what students know and understand, and what they need to know and understand next.

Source: AAC Key Visual (Alberta Assessment Consortium)

The end result of planning, instructing, and assessing student learning typically culminates in a final grade or a year end report, and the current reality provides no exception. In Alberta, "[e]ach student will get final grades and a report card appropriate to their grade level. Teachers will assess a student's progress and assign a final grade...All students who were on track to progress to the next grade will do so" (Alberta Government, 2020).

Many of Jigsaw Learning's partners are asking questions: How do we make this happen? How do teachers assess students who are working from home? How do teachers gather data and evidence to support and justify the assessment of student learning in what, for most teachers and students, is an atypical learning environment?

This simplest response to these questions is to ensure the instruction and assessment practices in which teachers are engaging are aligned with district expectations. In Alberta, districts will be reviewing Alberta Education's guidelines for continuing K to 12 student learning while in-school classes are cancelled due to COVID 19 and "[s]chool authorities will consult with parents and inform them how assessment will be determined in this unique circumstance" (Alberta Government, 2020).

However, the actual response in considering these questions is far more complex.

Prior to planning for assessment, educators must consider the current reality of the learning environment. It has not been an opportunity to carefully plan for online learning to provide to students whose families have made the conscious decision to pursue this route in education. It has been a scenario where the emerging circumstances have identified that, for the time being, teachers and students will connect via whatever means possible to adhere to learning guidelines and parents will do their best to support this adaptation of education. The means through which we plan, the manner in which we instruct, and the mediums through which we assess must reflect our responsiveness to this unexpected change.

Some schools and educators were afforded the opportunity to reap the benefits of digital access to learning tools and had the time to engage in digital citizenship lessons prior to social distancing. The transition to learning at home may have felt seamless in these scenarios as families have enough working devices and reliable internet infrastructure to support a number of people online at one time. This is not the reality in every community.

Even in scenarios where there are devices and infrastructure to support the virtual aspect of learning, educators might wish to consider the context of the actual home environment when purposefully planning for student learning. With that in mind, the table that follows offers considerations about what learning might look like in response to the current situation.

Learning Associate Kathleen Robertson speaks to the notion of strategic and purposeful planning around data collection leading to powerful results for student growth in her blog post Data Tells a Story (2020a): "Why are we collecting data? What information do we hope to learn from our data? How can we use the data to support our students and to build capacity?"

If we expand these thoughts from simply data to the idea of learning activities, which in this scenario include the instruction and assessment of learning outcomes, we might ask the following questions:

Why are we planning this learning activity?

What understanding do we hope our students learn from this activity? (Does the learning activity have a direct connection to an essential outcome for the grade?)

What information do we hope to learn about our students from this activity?

How can we use this learning activity to support our students and to build capacity? (Will the learning activity grow a student's understanding?)

In considering the learning environment in which the learning activity will take place, further considerations may be necessary:

Do all families have the resources they need to accomplish the learning activity?

Will the learning activity result in any additional stress or potential conflict for the home?

Will the learning activity require more time than what is laid out in the home learning expectations?

Can teachers help support the learning activity during planned opportunities for connection?

One administrator I worked with in my career reiterated four questions in relation to planning learning activities:

What do you want students to know?

How will you know that they know?

What will you do if they already know?

What will you do if they do not know?

[NOTE: This administrator always attributed these questions to the thinking of someone else, but did not reference that someone else specifically]
So what does assessment look like in our current reality? How will we know what our students know so we can make decisions about what to do if they do or they do not know?

Best practices in assessment should not be abandoned at this time. Careful consideration of which assessment to use must remain (as discussed by Learning Associate Cheryl Gascoyne in her blog post Which Assessment Should We Use? (2020a)). Data and evidence must continue to be triangulated to ensure a more complete and accurate picture regarding a student's understanding (as discussed by Learning Associate Kathleen Robertson in her blog post Triangulate That Data! (2020b)). Analysis of assessments should inform instructional practice to ensure students continue to learn in a supported manner (as discussed by Learning Associate Cheryl Gascoyne in her blog post I've Assessed - Now What? (2020b)). Assessment should be both formative and summative in nature, understanding that what was identified to be summative may actually become formative in the process of teaching.

Assessment has always been inherent in learning activity. The data and evidence that is gathered by teachers guides their planning. Is remediation necessary? Is enrichment possible? What is the next logical building block to solidify the foundation of the concept? What cross-curricular connections might be made? What questions might a student explore when they know what they understand?

There are many ways to gather the data and evidence that can demonstrate whether a student has met a learning outcome. Again, there may be digital means to conduct the assessments (exams, tests, quizzes, etc.) that have traditionally been considered the quantitative data with respect to student learning; however, not all teachers may be so fortunate. What the current reality of education offers is the opportunity to expand our assessment repertoire and explore alternative methods to leverage conversational evidence and observational evidence (qualitative data) along with production evidence (often written, quantitative data) to generate a sound professional judgment regarding student learning (Bilash, 2009). We have been given a chance to delve deeper into our practice of differentiating products of learning (Tomlinson & Moon, 2013) and to enhance our understanding of multiple means of action and expression as we provide students with choice in demonstrating their learning (CAST, 2018). We have been afforded the possibility of having a one-on-one conversation with a student to ask probing questions and share valuable feedback without having to keep the rest of the classroom on task. We have been granted the flexibility to ensure we know our students know what we have identified that they should know. We have been provided the good fortune to engage parents, grandparents, siblings, aunts, uncles, etc. (depending on the home situation) by encouraging students to share their learning with a relatively captive audience, under the circumstances. We are being presented an unexpected occasion to truly consider how the assessment for and of learning can be meaningful and relevant in the context of home and day-to-day life.

Educators are working diligently to meet the needs of students under the current circumstances and plan accordingly. Perhaps it is not the educator's approach to assessment that should be the focus of differentiation; perhaps what needs to be differentiated is assessment and grading. As stated earlier, assessment is naturally included in learning activity. It is the total accumulation of learning activities (instruction and assessment of outcomes) that typically results in grading - the summation that says the outcome/the course/the grade is complete. While there is discussion regarding pass/fail grading during this pandemic (Feldman, 2020; Guskey, 2020), those decisions do not generally rest in the hands of individual classroom teachers. As school authorities strive to adhere to government guidelines and support staff, students, and families in this uncharacteristic climate of learning, the standards for communicating student learning remains under their purview.

So what does assessment look like in our current reality? It looks like it is

fueled with the same intention as it always was: to know our children are learning and to understand the extent of that learning within the context of purposefully planned activities that allow for the demonstration of that learning.

challenged by both limitation and opportunity: we cannot do exactly what we did in classrooms so we must innovate our thinking to adjust our practice

complex: there are many considerations to weigh in articulating why, what, and how assessment will be engaged.

quality teaching: informing our professional judgment of student learning with data and evidence regarding achievement of outcomes.

References
Alberta Assessment Consortium. 2017. AAC key visual: Assessing student learning in the classroom. https://aac.ab.ca/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/AAC-Key-VisualAUG2017.pdf

Alberta Government. 2020. Alberta Education's guidelines for continuing K to 12 student learning while in-school classes are cancelled due to COVID 19. https://www.alberta.ca/student-learning-during-covid-19.aspx#toc-2

Bilash, O. 2009. Triangulation in Assessment. https://sites.educ.ualberta.ca/staff/olenka.bilash/Best%20of%20Bilash/Triangulation.html

CAST (2018). Universal design for learning guidelines version 2.2. http://udlguidelines.cast.org

Feldman, J. (2020). Resist the urge to grade students during the coronavirus closures. https://inservice.ascd.org/resist-the-urge-to-grade-students-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic/

Gascoyne, C. (2020a). Literacy assessment FAQ - question 1: Which assessment should we use? https://www.jigsawlearning.ca/publications/blog-posts/literacy-assessment-faq-question-1-which-assessment-should-w

Gascoyne, C. (2020b). I've assessed, now what? Teachers: Detectives of assessment. https://www.jigsawlearning.ca/publications/blog-posts/ive-assessed-now-what-teachers-detectives-assessment

Guskey, T.R. (2020). Should we consider pass/fail grading? http://tguskey.com/should-we-consider-pass-fail-grading/

Guskey, T.R. and Jung, L.A. (2016. Grading: Why you should trust your judgment. http://tguskey.com/wp-content/uploads/Grading-1-Why-You-Should-Trust-Your-Judgment.pdf

Robertson, K. (2020a). Data tells a story. https://www.jigsawlearning.ca/publications/blog-posts/data-tells-story

Robertson, K. (2020b). Triangulate that data! https://www.jigsawlearning.ca/publications/blog-posts/triangulate-data

Tomlinson, C.A. and Moon, T.R. (2013). Assessment and student success in a differentiated classroom. ASCD.

Wormeli, R. 2020. Teaching and assessing during distance learning via the COVID-19 school shutdown is an opportunity to become creative. https://6192b46b-a555-41bd-98e4-f89abb0dfd7b.filesusr.com/ugd/10b7c9_3faf9ce116da4508bea9d5cb788e1d79.pdf

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What Does Assessment Look Like in Our Current Reality?

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Many of Jigsaw Learning's partners are asking questions: How do we make this happen? How do teachers assess students who are working from home? How do teachers gather data and evidence to support and justify the assessment of student learning in what, for most teachers and students, is an atypical learning environment?

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Underlying Messages and Myths about Online Learning (Brown & Jacobsen, 2020)

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Underlying Messages and Myths about Online Learning (Brown & Jacobsen, 2020)

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Online learning designs have been proven to be effective for learning. In fact, research occurring during the pandemic demonstrated that even during a crisis-response and rapid transition to remote teaching, this mode of learning online can be effective for a diverse range of learners. The promise and possibilities for robust online learning designs increase when instructors have ample lead time to collaborate and design digital learning plans and strategies for their students.

According to Donovan et al. (2019), blended and hybrid learning have been proven to be an important part of Canadian post-secondary education prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Online learning is accepted (e.g., online credentials are as respected as face-to-face credentials

Demonstrated Student Satisfaction (e.g., Students are as satisfied with online courses as they are with face-to-face course.

Online learning designs often promote innovations in teaching

Barbour et al. (2019) indicated that approximately 300,000 K-12 students in Canada were engaged in distance and/or online learning in 2018-19. In March 2020, educators and students across Canada pivoted from in-person classrooms to educating over 5 million students remotely in less than two weeks.

During the pandemic, researchers shared many examples of effective teaching, technology and teacher education during the pandemic (Ferding et al., 2020). Some key findings that help support the notion that even a rapid transition to online can be effective:

p. 50 - research shows eLearning presents challenges for parents, teachers and administrators, argues for field placements online, professional development for teachers, and additional research is needed for a thoughtful digital learning plan

p.67 - a blend of synchronous and asynchronous learning activities, collaborative tools, can be supportive for students with diverse learning need and can provide equitable access when approaches are grounded in patience and flexibility

p. 78 - classes that were using technologies pre-COVID found it a seamless transition to fully online and using the same technologies

p. 94 - social interactions are important and this can be achieved online

p. 132 - relationships and professional collaboration can be achieved online

Myth #2: Online learning implies less interaction than in-person
Some presume there is less interaction in online courses when compared to in-class, face-to-face teaching and learning (Watts, 2016). However, it has been proven that interactivity, engagement and strong social and community presence can be fostered in online courses for students and instructors (Garrison, 2017; Young & Bruce, 2011). Contemporary learning technologies enable teachers and learners to connect, collaborate and communicate effectively in diverse ways using an intentional blend of "live" (synchronous) and teacher or self-directed (asynchronous) learning designs (Jacobsen, et al., 2013; Tucker, 2020). For example, a teacher can collect, curate and assign relevant podcasts, videos, and textual resources to be accessed and viewed by learners prior to a real-time or live modelling session the teacher leads with the entire class. Known as flipped instruction, this approach to blending asynchronous and synchronous learning experiences and opportunities is an effective pedagogical approach teachers are using to design online learning experiences that are highly interactive (Mazur, et al., 2015).
Myth #3: More time should be spent on synchronous activities in online classes
Both self-directed asynchronous learning tasks and activities, and scheduled synchronous activities and interactions, are important for learning in online courses.
Asynchronous activities provide students with time to reflect and think before interacting with their peers in discussion groups. Students can view multi-media educational resources at their own pace with accessibility options. These are important elements of active and engaged learning in online courses (Lee & Brett, 2015; Watts, 2016)
Synchronous activities, such seminars, webinars and conversations with instructors, peers and expert guest speakers, are also important for learning in online courses (Martin et al., 2017; Watts, 2016).
Live interaction matters but relying on too many synchronous activities can promote inequities for those unable to connect/attend scheduled events (Banna et al., 2015)
An appropriate range and blend of asynchronous and synchronous activities using communication applications for collaborative knowledge building (Brown et al., 2013; Brown & Eaton, 2020; Watts, 2016) are ideal with flexibility for individual student needs, circumstances, and access to reliable technology.
References:
Banna, J., Grace Lin, M., Stewart, M., & Fialkowski, M. (2015). Interaction matters: Strategies to promote engaged learning in online introductory nutrition course. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 11(2), 249-261.

Barbour, M., & LaBonte, R. (2019). State of the Nation: K-12 E-Learning in Canada.
https://k12sotn.ca/reports/

Brown, B. & Eaton, S. E. (2020). Using a community of inquiry lens to examine synchronous online discussions in graduate courses (Chapter 10). In L. Wilton, & Brett C. (Eds.) Handbook of Research on Online Discussion-Based Teaching Methods (pp. 229-262), IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-7998-3292-8

Brown, B., Eaton, S. E., Jacobsen, M., & Roy, S. (2013). Instructional design collaboration: A professional learning and growth experience. MERLOT Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 9(3). http://jolt.merlot.org/vol9no3/brown_0913.htm

Donovan, T., Bates, T., Seaman, J., Mayer, D., Martel, E., Paul, R., . . . Poulin, R. (2019). Tracking online and distance education in Canadian universities and colleges: 2018. Canadian National Survey of Online and Distance Education, Public Report. Canadian Digital Learning Research Association. https://onlinelearningsurveycanada.ca/

Ferding, R. E., Baumgartner, E., Hartshorne, R., Kaplan-Rakowski, R., & Mouza, C. (2020), Teaching, technology, and teacher education during the COVID-19 pandemic: Stories from the field. Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE). https://www.learntechlib.org/p/216903/

Garrison, D. R. (2017). E-learning in the 21st century: A community of inquiry framework for research and practice (3rd ed.). Routledge.

Jacobsen, M., Brown, B., & Lambert, D. (2013). Technology-Enhanced Learning Environments in Higher Education: A Review of the Literature. Werklund School of Education, University of Calgary. November, 80 pages. URL: http://hdl.handle.net/1880/52244

Lee, K. & Brett, C. (2015). Dialogic understanding of teachers' online transformative learning: A qualitative case study of teacher discussions in a graduate-level online course. Teaching and Teacher Education, 46, 72-83. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tate.2014.11.001

Martin, F., Ahlgrim-Delzell, L., & Budhrani, K. (2017). Systematic review of two decades (1995 to 2014) of research on synchronous online learning. American Journal of Distance Education, 31(1), 3-19. https://doi.org/10.1080/08923647.2017.1264807

Mazur, A. D., Brown, B., & Jacobsen, M. (2015). Learning designs using flipped classroom instruction. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology, 41(2), 1-26. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21432/T2PG7P

Tucker, C. (2020). Asynchronous vs. Synchronous: How to Design for Each Type of Learning. https://catlintucker.com/2020/08/asynchronous-vs-synchronous/

Watts, L. (2016). Synchronous and asynchronous communication in distance learning: a review of the literature. Quarterly Review of Distance Education, 17(1), 23-32. https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ1142962

Young, S., & Bruce, M. A. (2011). Classroom community and student engagement in online courses. Journal of Online Learning and Teaching, 7(2). http://jolt.merlot.org/vol7no2/young_0611.htm

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Underlying Messages and Myths about Online Learning (Brown & Jacobsen, 2020)

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Online learning designs have been proven to be effective for learning. In fact, research occurring during the pandemic demonstrated that even during a crisis-response and rapid transition to remote teaching, this mode of learning online can be effective for a diverse range of learners.

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Forbes Article: Asynchronous Remote Learning Is The Most Humane Way To Teach This School Year

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Forbes Article: Asynchronous Remote Learning Is The Most Humane Way To Teach This School Year

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ASSOCIATED PRESS

I keep hearing the same complaint from parents: "I don't want my children on these long videoconference calls. It is making them miserable." These long, synchronous classroom calls which have become the norm in our desperate attempt to teach America's children remotely during this Covid-19 pandemic are not just causing angst among adults; they are bad for child development. And we, as parents and educators, need to trust the research and replace them with a better, more developmentally appropriate, research-based approach to remote learning: asynchronous, project-based instruction.

Lectures have never been good for children, even in in-person classroom environments. Just ask John Dewey, the founding father of the modern American public education system, who said: "Give the pupils something to do, not something to learn; and the doing is of such a nature as to demand thinking; learning naturally results." Though America has deviated from Dewey's learning-by-doing philosophy in the last two decades due to No Child Left Behind and other test-based accountability policies like Race To The Top, the research has remained clear: children learn more, retain more, and are more engaged when they are the drivers of their own learning as opposed to simply passive observers of content.

A 2015 Gallup poll showed how disengaged American children already were before the unprecedented limitations of remote learning, with only about a third of American 10th, 11th and 12th grade students saying they feel engaged in school.

Given this, does anybody really think we're doing the right thing for children by using the same failing instructional approaches on videoconference calls? Students aren't just going to disengage; they are going to stop showing up and that is one of the worst possible outcomes for students who increasingly need diplomas for living wage employment.

The good news, though, is that there is a more humane, engaging way and it's called "asynchronous learning." Rooted in the age-old Project-Based Learning framework, asynchronous learning changes the role of a teacher from the sole transmitter of academic knowledge (think: lecturer) to a facilitator of learning as the student takes a more active role in the driver's seat (think: coach). Rather than the teacher showing a student how to solve an academic problem step-by-step and expecting the student to copy them (which, by the way, is exhausting for a teacher), the teacher gives students real-world challenges and asks the students to creatively problem-solve together. A sample project could be as simple as making a color wheel using toys or as complex as developing a health plan that ends Covid-19 transmission in your community.

Practically speaking, in an asynchronous remote learning classroom students wouldn't sit on long Zoom or Google Hangout calls for most of the day. Instead, they might jump on a short classroom-wide synchronous call to kickoff the day and receive project instructions. Then, the students would spend the majority of their school day working on their project or task asynchronously, demonstrating progress through videos of their work. Throughout the day, the teacher would meet one-on-one or in small groups and support students in the development of their solutions. At the end of a session or day, students would debrief as a full group and share reflections.

Though most education technology (edtech) products, like Zoom and Google Classrooms, were made for the synchronous classroom experience, a slew of new asynchronous edtech products are arriving on the market to fill the asynchronous project-based learning need that is arising in the Covid-19 remote learning era. I am the founder of one such edtech tool called Zigazoo, which gives teachers the ability to assign projects and collect student responses in the form of short videos on a social media-style feed. Padlet helps educators and students create digital collages together and Nearpod enables teachers to make interactive lessons. Google Tools continues to come in handy for asynchronous writing, polling, and messaging.

Though nothing will ever replace the benefits of in-person learning, my advice to teachers and education leaders is to remember that you don't need to punish yourself or your students by trying to manage full classrooms on hours-long conference calls this year. Be kind to yourself, assign your students interesting projects, learn some new technologies, and help to lead a much-needed revolution away from lecture-based pedagogy in the American education system. It will be healthy for everyone, especially our kids' mental health and long-term development.

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Asynchronous Remote Learning Is The Most Humane Way To Teach This School Year

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Long, synchronous classroom videoconferences which have become the norm in our desperate attempt to teach America's children remotely are not just causing angst among adults; they are bad for child development. The good news is there is a more humane, engaging way called "asynchronous learning."