Designing transparent assessment strategies for online learning in HE (English language)

The concept of progress monitoring of measurement often refers to a process of collecting and analyzing data on student learning in educational settings (e.g., virtual learning environment) in order to make informed judgements on student’s learning. Additionally, this allows teachers to adapt instruction or take specific pedagogical measures and interventions to facilitate student learning and help them to reach the intended learning outcomes (Reister and Blanchard, 2020). To put it in other words, progress measurement / monitoring refers to a series of procedures in order to measure how much students have learnt and to what extent they have reached the intended learning outcomes over a period of time. Finally, it should be mentioned that both teachers and students themselves can monitor learning progress. 

A rubric is an assessment tool used for criteria-based assessment and considering performance levels. It can be used for marking any kind of students’ performance element, from class participation to assignments, and despite its format, from written to oral to visual.

The assessment of skills assessment allows for determining an individual’s strengths and weaknesses. Its main purpose is to identify the students’ gaps and adjust learning activities accordingly, but also to highlight the students’ strong points and capitalise them for the development of other learners.

Within the scope of digital assessment, student agency refers to students’ active and responsive involvement in both learning and assessment practices. As opposed to “lecturer driven, one-way transmission of feedback” (Pitt, Bearman, and Esterhazy, 2020), student agency implies that students are engaged in a dialogic process of looking for (rather than just receiving) feedback from different sources and at different times, crosscutting it with their own experience and context, and using it to make informed and independent choices regarding their learning. Described as reflective and action-oriented, it relies on formative and constructive feedback (upon which students can act on), moving beyond specific tasks.

The term reflection is used to refer to a process of evaluating a lived event to investigate, appraise, and explain and, by doing so, cast light on the education concerning repetition and exercise (Reid, 1993). One of the key goals of teachers is to encourage students to engage in reflection procedures as this may significantly contribute to facilitating learning and providing deep learning experience by allowing learners to become more independent and taking responsibility for their own learning (Sharma, 2010).

Summative assessment is “any assessment activity which results in a mark or grade which is subsequently used as judgement on a student performance. Ultimately judgements’ using summative assessment marks will be used to determine the classification of awards at the end of a course or programme” (Iron, 2008, p. 7).

Team-based learning involves a sequence of activities that include individual work, team work, and immediate feedback. It implies the student’s individual pre-class preparation, followed by a test, which is answered twice by the students, firstly in an individual setting (iRAT step) and then in a group setting (tRAT step)

Within the scope of digital assessment, transparency refers to the openness and sharing of explicit assessment criteria with students, ensuring that they understand overall learning outcomes and indicators, and how they are connected. In addition to supporting accountability, transparency reinforces students’ involvement with the teaching and learning process, as well as self-regulation, by clearly outlining goals, strategies and marking schemes, all of which are timely communicated and can be discussed with students.