Digital Assessment

There are also a lot of online tools available. Using those tools, it is possible for you and for your teacher to check how your learning is going on, how your learning is progressing. Below, based on internet source https://clt.curtin.edu.au/local/downloads/learning_teaching/tl_handbook/tlbookchap5_2012.pdf there is given a list of some online assessment tools that you may know or which are already used in your University. Some of those tools will give you immediate feedback about your own learning progress and how you performed a certain task or activity, while some will require your teacher to be a part of your assessment process and to mark and supply feedback. The other online tools may not be assessed directly. However, you will use them to collect evidence to inform work that is being assessed.

Online assessment tools:

• Assignment Submission – Moodle and other learning management systems have tools which allow you to upload assignments. These assignments are written offline and then you log into Moodle and upload your file. This is just a mechanism to allow the electronic delivery of files to your tutor.
  
• Quiz – Can consist of a variety of question types e.g. multiple choice; multiple answer; short answer. These will be automatically marked by the program and you may get immediate feedback. Quizzes are often used to allow you to check the progress of your learning.
  
• Online Text – A short answer question - perhaps 1 or 2 paragraphs that you write and submit online. Your teacher will mark and give feedback.
  
• Reflective Journals are online spaces where you can keep reflections about your learning, akin to a private diary. These may be assessed directly by the teacher or you may be asked to write a commentary or report using the reflections as evidence or examples within the commentary.
  
• E-Portfolio – A space where you can collect a range of files and reflections to support your learning. These can be assessed in different ways and your tutor will inform you of requirements. Often, they are assessed in similar ways to the Reflective Journal.
  
• Forum – Also known as discussion boards. These may or may not be assessed. Assessment may be on the quality of individual posts, your overall contribution or your engagement with the discussion taking place. Check with your tutor if you are not sure what is expected.
  
• Lesson – A lesson is a collection of materials that can often have some assessment built in. Typically, you will work through some material or activity and then be tested on your understanding. The tests will normally consist of multiple choice questions or short answer questions.
  
• Glossary – A glossary is a collection of words with associated definitions. You will normally be asked to create definitions which may consist of text and/or web links and journal references.
  
• Website – You may be asked to develop some web pages as part of project-based work. You will normally be given access to the tools to do this. Assessment may be on the content that you create, on the design and the ability to convey your message or a combination of both. Check with your tutor if you are not sure what is expected.

Activities which drive learning.

Assessment tasks can be graded or non-graded. All forms of assessment provide the opportunity to develop the learner's abilities by getting feedback about their learning. This is the ‘formative’ goal of assessment. Assessment can be used as a strategic tool to help learners to understand and navigate through a series of tasks which optimize higher order learning beyond simple recall and recognition. To achieve this, educators focus on what they want students to learn, and the specific activities required by each assessment task that allow learners to acquire skills, but which also allow teachers to evaluate and provide feedback on the tasks they have performed.

It is important that the assessment requirements, which are not necessary for training, are not so onerous that they would overwhelm the purpose of the assessment itself. Examples of tasks that are helpful, as well as feedback, include problems where learner must make decisions based on original thinking; written tasks that require synthesis and application of reflective thinking; or discussions, role-playing games and simulation, where students must perform and respond to feedback in real time.

The procedure of creation of tasks can be the most enjoyable part of assessment and there are many academic literatures that could provide examples or discussions on how to design learning tasks which promote learning.

Based on: http://www.assessmentdecisions.org/tasks/activities-which-drive-learning/

Digital assessment options in fully online environments.

According Ellis & Goodyear (2010), “Assessing in a fully online learning context requires effective planning and may involve a diverse range of learning activities. As students may not attend campus their entire learning experience will be fully online and therefore they need explicit support to complete digital assessments”.

Digital assessment means that we can get rich data on student progress. You may already be able to use certain tools to help to make the submission process more effective, but there are also tools that allow us to learn different forms of learning or to face up face-to-face challenges. Designing digital assessment there are two simple steps. Firstly, we need to address our intentions to conduct digital assessment activities. Secondly, we can align our assessment strategy and tools to support these assessment activities.

It is important to remember why we use technologies to assess work in online contexts. We may be (based on www.uws.edu.au/qilt ):

1. Assessing different types of learning outcomes (e.g.: lower order understanding to higher order analysis, assessment of creativity)

2. Assessing learning processes which have previously been difficult to capture (e.g.: contributions to group work or metacognition through reflection)

3. Simplifying assessment administration processes (e.g.: using Grade mark for submission and distribution of work for grading)

4. Enhancing feedback (e.g.: the use of rubrics to guide student work and provide richer and more consistent feedback, along with peer or self-assessment)

Based on: Central Blended Learning Team | www.uws.edu.au/qilt

As you consider your objectives for digital assessment, include the principles for good e-assessment:>

1. Scheduling – The assessment of the plan varies considerably with the unit and meets other external factors.

2. Objectives of the assessment – they need to be clear to avoid misunderstandings. What we will have to assess? When will it be assessed? What criteria will it be assessed before? How worth is the assessment?

3. Formative assessment – During the course for students are given opportunities to gain confidence and feedback assessment activities such as draft submissions or peer reviewed work. This will be a special focus on the entire online environment as students won’t have the ‘incidental learning’ that can occur in the classroom, for example when they can see each other’s’ work.

4. Suitable tools – Are the tools used to assess the learning outcomes appropriate?