Ascertaining student progress in the online environment can at times be problematic given the nature of the milieu. Given that one of the primary objectives of any teacher is to ensure that his or her students' are making progress and integrating the material into their knowledge base, assessment of knowledge attainment is crucial. The online environment tends to be asynchronous in communication and does not inherently proffer intense interaction; these factors work against easy assessment of student progress. Although assignments and discussion forums offer a modicum of insight toward how students are progressing, they do not replicate the daily interaction and in-depth conversations that are a central focus of the traditional classroom setting. Online instructors frequently need to develop innovative and nuanced strategies to decipher whether students are understating fully the material presented. This should extend beyond the grade a student receives, as students are often apposite at regurgitating material in assignment or discussion forum, simply to receive a grade. The challenge is to develop and integrate clever assessment techniques that both incorporate the totality of the material covered while letting the instructor know their students are making progress and improving week-on-week. Sebastianelli and Tamimi (2011) posited the use of a quiz or test in the last week of a course to measure student achievement and improvement might be useful for measuring student progress in an online setting. This strategy may not be apropos to all courses, however, given the classroom settings, curriculum, and architectures. I am curious the strategies everyone has developed or are in the process or developing to ensure that students are ingraining the material being taught in a holistic and long-term manner. I look forward to your thoughts about this topic. - Thanks.
Sebastianelli, R., & Tamimi, N. (2011). Business statistics and management sciences online: Teaching strategies and assessment of student learning. Journal of Education for Business, 86, 317-325. doi:10.1080/08832323.2010.525545
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10 Comments
Hello Eric,
I teach Early Childhood Education courses. I have many students who are either parents or preschool teachers and so, I ask them to apply their knowledge to their own families or classrooms. For instance, we were studying Educational Theorists and after the content was well discussed, I asked them to reflect upon their own practice or parenting and decide what theories they personally use. Through these personal narratives, I can really see if they understand and can apply the content.
-Deb Martinez
I teaching in the Education program. I like to use the KWL approach to assess what my students know about the topic we are learning about.
1. What do you know about the Topic?
2. What do you want to know about the topic?
3. What have you learned about the topic?
This helps me plan my discussion forums better. This way I can find articles that will help support my students if they are struggling with the topic or have little knowledge on the topic.
Hello Deb:
I like you idea about having your students connect the concepts and theorems they are learning in your courses to real-world situations. One of my biggest fears is that the material I teach is too abstract and that student will forget everything the moment they leave my course. Having student reiterate their application of concepts in narrative form certainly sounds like an excellent way to ensure your students are not only learning the concepts, but also applying them in their daily lives.
Thanks,
Eric
Hello Jennifer:
Your approach to student assessment seems excellent, in that you ask your student to provide a holistic understanding of the material. Asking students such questions such as, what they know about a topic, what they learned about a topic and what they would like to engage further about a topic can help direct teaching strategies and the direction of the course. In addition, brining in outside material can help enrich the student experience as we asked students to extend their learning beyond the codified parameters of the course and engage in independent learning. One thing I like to incorporate into my courses is real-world application of concepts. This helps make the material relevant in the student's professional setting and allows the student to make sense of the material outside of the classroom setting. Thank you for your post.
Eric Nordin
I like the use of KWL as well. I had used KWL charts in the live classes that I taught in the past and have found that they are one of the easiest assessments to add to an online class. It starts a new dialogue in every class and it gives me the chance to specifically target the eneds of each individual class. As we all know, no two class dynamics are the same.
Rick
Hello Rick:
Sounds like many instructors are making use of the KWL schema. Do you notice a difference in the KWL application from ground-based course to online course? If so, what are the main differences and how does you implementation vary from ground-based to the online setting?
Thanks,
Eric Nordin
Yes, Eric. The difference is in the delivery. In a ground class, you would likely have a chart with K-W-L on it and would start a lesson by asking the students what they already know and what they want to know. After the lesson is complete, you would then list what they learned.
In an online class, the lesson is a week long. My recommendation would be to deliver the K question, What do you know, on Monday, the W, What do you want to learn, on Tuesday, and the L, What have you learned, on Friday. This spreads out responses over the week and also allows the students to come up with their L over a period of days, and before the assignment is due.
Rick
Hello Rick:
You bring up some excellent points about how teaching strategies should differ between ground and online classes. The time horizon of the lesson - one day for ground and a week for online - would certainly have an effect on how we apply the KWL strategy. Given that the demographics of both classes can vary significantly, would you orient the material covered in each part of the KWL strategy to meet the needs and desires of your student population?
Thanks,
Eric
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