Dawn,
You make a great point about students availability and knowledge of the technology. You don't want to add to students' barriers because the technology doesn't work.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Dr. Kimberly,
You are so right! Tools are worthless if we don't understand the need for assessing the right information. That makes the difference between information and data.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Kimberly,
Great post. You are right, you should use various methods to assess.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Alfred,
One tool should not meet complete assessment picture. There should be multiple assessment using multiple vehicles to truly assess learning.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Alfred,
You have a great post! Those add-ins are important for you to determine learning. Keep at it!
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
William,
Great post! i agree with you. You have to use a variety of assessments to really determine if the student is learning.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Deborah,
I agree. I too use online assessment tools for my f2f courses. It provides a better testing environment for the students and it does ease workload for me.
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
Christina,
I LOVE YOUR POST! You really have said so much! Yes, the textbook/publishers do not drive curriculum, course objectives do. It is too easy to depend on the textbook when we (instructors) are the expert. Great thoughts
Dr. Kelly Wilkinson
In my opinion the three most important things to consider when assessing the use of technology-assessment tools in an online-learning environment are:
1) Is the tool appropriate for the class and students? Not all assessment tools may be appropriate for a specific class.
2) Do the students have the appropriate equipment to use the online assessment tool? To this day I have students in my classes that use dial-up to connect to the internet and are not able to view all of the content in the classroom.
3) Is there support available to the students and the instructor should problems arise. As with all technology support must be provided by the institution or the instructor must be trained to assist students if necessary.
This was a good question. When reviewing some of the challenges faced in an online environment, I would ask the following questions when assessing the use of potential technology assessment tools:
1. Does the technology assessment tool enable an effective measure of the students’ knowledge of the targeted concepts/topics?
2. Is the technology tool flexible and adaptable to the changing needs of the course (e.g., amount of effort needed to adjust the tool if any of the criterion of the course changes)?
3. Does the technology assessment tool address the different learning styles of the students?
The three most important to consider when assessing the use of technology assessment tools are;
1) Student feedback
a. Students are the most important gauge as to whether an instrument worked or not. Students provide insight that is more informative and constructive as compared to an employee giving feedback on a performance evaluation.
2) Ease of use
a. The ease of use if for both the instructor and the student. This does not mean we should rely on just objective True/False – Multiple Choice questions. Personally for online instruction I prefer a virtual lab experience.
3) Objective vs. subjective assessments
a. As an instructor it is easy to rely on objective assessments. I like the “drill†of multiple tests and using the highest score. I view this as a learning assessment tool. It would not be wise to have subjective assessments without proper rubrics set up ahead of time. The students should have access to these rubrics prior to engaging in the work to be assessed.
I think it is important that the assessment tool enhances the assessment process. I think it should make evaluating and analyzing the data easier. It should assist the instructor and giving meaningful feedback. This also should match the learning outcome or objective.
I agree as well. I spend the first day doing this too. I teach one of the first classes that a student has to take in our online program. I always have a couple students that have just gotten their first computer and barely know how to use the internet. It is very important to provide them with any assistance possible so they stay committed and do not become overwhelmed.
By far the most important thing to consider is if the students have the equipment necessary to run the program used for the assessment. It can be very frustrating for both the student and the instructor if there are access problems.
When designing assessments, the instructor must be sure the assessment tool matches the course objectives.
I also think it is important to use a variety of tools so the different learning styles of all students are utilized.
I feel sometimes verbal communication works the best if the student is having learning blocks. I can not stand emails flying back and forth when sometimes all it takes is a phone call to help the student understand.
It is important that the instructor has a good understanding on how the tool works to make it a positive learning environment.
Next, all students must understand how to navigate through the tool so that it becomes that positive learning environment. If the student is frustrated, they will shut down and not have "fun" using the tool as a means to be interactive with their peers.
Finally, the student must have the technology available to them to support the tool. Students must understand that technology is not DOS based anymore.
Real World Application:
The Course Objectives (CO's) are what the course covers and the knowledge that a student should have upon exiting the course. They are mandatory for accreditation and, I would argue, student success. This is a common definition, but I like to go a little further in assessing students through application and career-oriented assignments. I teach Ethics which makes a lot of students say: "Why do I need this course? What does it have to do with what I want to do? I am a good person" and so on. Yet I point to the CO's as a toolkit for my students to take with them on the job. It is my hope that upon leaving the course, my students will have a basic set of tools to use when they face moral dilemmas and ethical conflicts on the job.
The CO's:
Curriculum should not be based on a textbook, but the CO's. As mentioned above, they are designed to prepare students for application in the workforce and superior performance. In this way we could say that as instructors, we don't teach from the book, we teach from the CO's. And if we think about Bloom's Taxonomy which consists of multiple levels of action verbs, we see that we are encouraging engagement from our students not just memorization and surface level thought.
Going Beyond the Textbook:
A drawback of the CO system is that it can be difficult to find a textbook or group of readings that "fit" the outcomes we would like to see our students have. Moreover, students are more accustomed to textbook-based learning and can have difficulty conceptualizing something they have not read. Yet this follows Bloom's Taxonomy perfectly as students are challenged to go beyond introductory level knowledge to apply what they are learning to what they will be doing on the job.
I believe the most important elements of technology assessment include the following:
validity and reliabiity of assessment tool
developing a tool that measures the skill you want students to know or understand
Making sure that the assessment tool is user friendly for students to ensure that they can access this tool and complete the task
I would first start with the needs of the student and their ability to access and use the tools. Also, I would consider the course development or adaptation of the content to the technology. Last, I would consider how to best use the technology in ways that would engage the student as well as providing constructive feedback
I think that the ease of use, the ability of the student to access and use the tool and the comfort level of the student using the tool are all important. Additionally, the feedback mechanisms as well as the appropriateness of the tool to the class are also important.
