Closing the loop
Hello
In an online environment your choices for evaluation can be rather limited. The course material is usually predetermined as well as the weekly assignments. Keeping track of the weekly class average would be the easiest but not necessarily the best. You could pose questions on the Discussion Board weekly that could challenge student compression.
Bill Becker
Suzanne,
Course content, learning outcomes and institutional policies all may weigh in on the evaluation process. But, using a variety of evaluation tools is best. Thanks!
Hi Bill,
Perhaps this varies by discipline, but in sociology I have a variety of methods of evaluation in my tool box. In some courses I use group projects, sometimes I require journaling, and other classes require discussion of a weekly news article that links to the concepts we are focused on that particular week. These are just a few ways for me to assess whether or not students are comprehending the material. I think a variety of methods keeps me on my toes and the students interested.
Suzanne
Michael,
The Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) - muddiest point/1-minute essay - work well to assess quickly what the students understand or don't understand. Nice job.
Hello again, Bill.
I agree with the facilitator that many evaluation options are available to us online, and your idea of utilizing the Discussion Board (perhaps for "muddy point" or "1-minute" response options) can be useful.
Even if you can't utilize these evaluations to make immediate changes to your pre-determined course content, you can use the information you gain to suggest changes to your university. Additionally, you can determine where weaknesses are present and use that knowledge to develop supplemental materials to upload/email to students.
~Michael
William,
Sounds like your course is developed for you and you don't have any flexibility. There are tons of choices for evaluation in online course. I use Jing (a free desktop recording software) and I can evaluate students work so they can see my suggestions on their work and they can hear my voice. I have peer-evaluation done that way as well. Also, there are various projects and rubrics that can be a part of the evaluation process, etc.
Formative evaluations can be done easily online as well and simple questions on discussion boards may work as well. Thanks for your posting.
