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

Pedagogical point-of-view:

Questions not only measure what students know but can reveal different levels of knowledge, skills and values/ responsibilities. Some considerations for developing assessment questions/ tasks are:

• Revisit the learning outcomes you have articulated at the beginning of the course, determine what you want students to know and assess what you intend for them;
• Use Bloom’s Taxonomy to review verbs that could inform higher-order questions, such as apply, compare, describe, etc.;
• Do not forget that the development of competences require more than knowledge and skills, it also implies the development of values/ responsibilities, which should be integrated into curriculum and developed interdependently;
• Consider asking students to create and submit questions after class and reviewing them for possible use;
• Monitor the students’ learning on an ongoing basis and provide regular feedback;
• Design assessment activities that accommodate different levels of knowledge, skills and values/responsibilities.

Technical point-of-view:

• Use digital tools that allow for including different types of questions (e.g., fill-in the blank, short answer, multiple choice, matching, essay/open-ended question, etc.), as different students may be better or worse at answering various types of questions;
• Consider using digital rubrics to make clear to students what they are expected to develop in terms of knowledge, skills and values/ responsibilities;
• Integrate the development of values/responsibilities, based, for instance, on online, synchronous or asynchronous, collaboration to raise (inter)cultural awareness and sensitivity and address global challenges;