VM curriculum designing

E-assessment is the use of ICT and the internet in particular for the assessment of learning, including design, delivery and/or recording of responses (JISC). Which assessment methods are most suited for your course in general is of course depending on the specific learning outcomes.

To evaluate students from a distance, the problem will most likely be how to create a controlled environment for the students during the assessment exercise. In case of written exams, the most easy thing to do is to collaborate with (teaching) staff on the spot. In case of oral exams there is the possibility to use web-conferencing. One way to address the issue of control here is to ask the student to show his/her environment via webcam and afterwards position the camera in such a way that he/she is clearly visible. Of course, it is also very useful here to have the assistance from somebody on the spot.

We focus here on the assessment of the online international group work.

WHAT?
A first decision to make is what will be subject of assessment. As in all group work we can make a distinction between:

• Product evaluation: the subject of assessment is the end product of the group work (presentation, paper etc.)
• Process evaluation: in this case the subject of assessment can be the task process, the group process or the development of attitudes. In case of group work in an international context, the latter will most likely be very important. Assessment will need to keep track of the development. Tools which can support this are collaborative tools that keep track of the collaboration process and/or tools which archive evidence of learning (e.g. e-portfolio or blogs, Unit 3)

Assessment of group work usually consists of a combination of product and process evaluation.  

WHO?
Different actors can be involved in the assessment process:

• teacher (e.g. to assess the outcome of the group work)
• peers (e.g. to assess the collaborative skills of peers)
• self  (e.g. to assess personal development in terms of intercultural awareness)

Even if other actors are involved, the teacher will always carry the end responsibility for the assessment. Peer and self-assessment need to be supported by the teacher, especially when it comes to defining and discussing the criteria for students to use. When using peer assessment in an international context, it is important to be very attentive to cultural and institutional differences. Where it might be common practice for one set of students to assess their peers, it can be a strange and uncomfortable situation for others. Preferably you discuss this beforehand with (teaching) staff from the other institution.

HOW?

• A thorough assessment process of course entails the formulation of clear criteria. This is even more important when you embed peer and/or self-evaluation. While teachers are used to formulate criteria for knowledge related learning outcomes, it proves to be much more difficult to formulate criteria for the assessment of social or intercultural competences. A very interesting document here is “Competences for the Telecollaboratively Effective Person”, which can be found on the UNICollaboration platform (www.uni-collaboration.eu). This document describes clear indicators for intercultural, technical, social competences and competences related to online literacy.
• Grades: Teachers can choose to contribute one group grade or individual grades for different students.  The most common practice is to combine both, where a group grade will be attributed to the task (by the teacher) and individual grades  will be used to assess the process (for instance through peer assessment).