Online Assessment and the Classroom

Assessment is a fundamental part of teaching that allows the educator to monitor the progress and success of their students and their own teaching techniques. Assessment can be carried out in many different forms. Traditionally we have seen assessment in the form of assignments, written tests, essays, projects and presentations to name a few. However with the advancements in technology another predominant form of assessment has made its debut. The rising star of assessment is online assessment. The use of online assessment has its advantages and disadvantages for students as well as teachers. In the past, teachers have had to administer tests and assignments manually and then take them in and mark them. This, we all know, can be an overwhelming task as stated in the Online Assessment article (http://www.cshe.unimelb.edu.au/assessinglearning/03/online.html ). With the advancement of online assessment we are seeing tools such as WebCT, blogs, Google Documents, paper submission sites such as turn it in.com and test makers to list just some of those available. These new tools are making the responsibility of assessment slightly less stressful for teachers. Such new tools are also responsible for the changes that students are experiencing as they progress from primary to post-secondary education. Students are rapidly becoming digital learners and therefore are adapting quickly to the use of online assessment. Similar to the teachers’ findings, online assessment is allowing students a sort of ease when it comes to assessment. Students are able to access their work and assignments from a computer with internet anywhere they may be. It has made higher education a possibility for a wider demographic. Although at first glance online assessment appears to have a bundle of positive attributes as you dig deeper it becomes apparent that there may be some flaws present in online assessment as mentioned in the Online Assessment article.
I have attended school at the university and the college and have the opportunity to use many of the different types of online assessments that are being used in educational facilities today. I feel that some of these tools are very useful. However, I believe that there are a number of disadvantages that go along with the convenience. The first assessment tool that I encountered at the university was WebCT. WebCT is a form of assessment that is used by many professors to administer tests. The most common type of exam given through WebCT is a multiple choice style. There is the option of short answer questions however in my six years at the Uof L I did not encounter one professor who chose to use the short answer option. All of the WebCT exams that I have written have been entirely multiple choice. For me this posed a hurdle of considerable size, as I struggle with writing a test of this style. I am the kind of person, and I know I’m not the only one, that would much rather take a written or short answer exam over a multiple choice exam. I also agree with the Online Assessment article when they state that “online assessment can promote lower level cognitive skills.” I personally feel that WebCT is not a thorough form of assessment, especially if only multiple choice questions are used. Through my years of post-secondary education I have also used a term paper submission site known as turn it in.com. This is a site that teachers can use for essay submissions. Students submit their paper online and their paper is then scanned and checked for any plagiarism throughout the paper. This form of assessment is also beneficial to the student as it ensures that they are learning how to properly write papers and site reference material. This tool is of enormous assistance to teachers and professors as well as students. The last form of online assessment that I have become familiar with is the blog. A blog is short for a web log and can be used in a variety of ways. Blogs can be used for assignments, discussions and reflections or for general information purposes. In my opinion a blog requires a higher level of knowledge application because you are giving a written response to a question(s). With a written response assessment there is no guessing and getting it right by chance as there is with multiple choice exams. You must have some knowledge and background on the subject matter to appropriately respond to a blog prompt as we are right now. This form of assessment will give an educator a deeper understanding of where each student is with the course material. I believe that the use of blogs as a form of assessment is beneficial to a student because it allows them to access their work from an environment that is best suited for them thus reducing their stress level. For students who suffer from test anxiety, the option of completing their work at home, and not in a class with a written exam, can have an enormous impact on their performance. Enabling a student to fully display their acquired knowledge is crucial to successfully measuring their progress.
Throughout this response we have looked at online assessment, in the form of WebCT, paper submission sites and blogs in particular, and discussed them from a student’s point of view. Overall it seems that online assessment is heading in the right direction and with time, the possibilities are endless.