This document discusses various methods for online assessment of student learning. It describes computer-based assessment such as quizzes and multiple choice questions, which can be easily set up and repeated by students. While effective for rote learning, they only test basic knowledge and some subjects require higher-level assessment. Assessing student artifacts like videos or blogs poses challenges around what is being assessed - content or form. Assessing online discussions can measure post numbers or better evaluate content, though reviewing all posts is laborious. Options include essays based on discussions or patchwork texts linking to original posts. The document also discusses nominal group activities to evaluate technology uses and priorities for implementing different assessment methods.

1. Designing activities for online
assessment

2. Computer-based assessment
• a series of questions which the student can answer to
assess their learning at a formative stage.
– Quizzes, multiple choice questions, complete the sentence,
matching words.
• Advantages.
– easy to set up, and
– can be repeated by students to test their knowledge.
– usually really liked by students as they’re effective for
developing rote learning,
– are easily gamified ie leaderboards or unlock badges, and
that can be rewarding for many students.

3. Computer-based assessment
• Disadvantages
– for many subjects you can only test very basic
learning, memorising facts and so on
– For some subjects you can set up higher level tests,
such as finding out information to test information
literacy skills, or to undertake complex maths or
engineering calculations for example.
– Coding is also very effectively assessed automatically,
the computer runs the code to see if it works.
– On the whole though, if you want to assess learning, it
needs a human to do it.

4. Making an artefact
• Can be seen as fun or lightweight depending
on student (McDonald and Twining, 2002;
6505)
• Can be collaborative or solo
• Online – wikis, annotated bibliography, blog
• Offline – making a video, podcast, physical
object
• Engaging but time- and resource-consuming

5. Assessing artefacts
• Biggest issue – are you assessing content or
form?
• If accompanied by presentation, assessing
artefact, presentation or both?
• Are you going to include peer assessment?
– WebPA, PeerMark , PeerWise, iPeer and SparkPlus.
– Common element - students hate them
– needs to be carefully introduced and its role explained

6. Assessing online discussions
• Can just measure the number of posts
(automatically)
• Better to mark based on content (e.g. Grice’s
Cooperative Principles Rating Scale – Swan,
Shen and Hiltz, 2013)
• Laborious to go through all the posts and
comments

7. Assessing online discussions
• Options: write an essay based on the
discussions
– Familiar ground for student, teacher and exam
board
• Create a patchwork text aka portfolio,
hypertext
– links to original posts and comments, with
surrounding narrative
– Builds on the functionalities of the technology,
and builds more closely on work of student

8. Nominal Group Activity
How do you use (and value) technology in your
teaching practice currently? 25 mins
1. Write down three instances of how you might
choose to assess online activities, or assess
online
2. Share these with the group, explain technologies
or activities that others aren’t familiar with
3. As a group sort each of these into the three you
think you would be most likely to implement

9. Feed back to whole room
In groups select three discussion points you
want to raise. This could be:
• A technology you want to know more about
• An issue you have with supporting assessment
with technology.
• How to use a particular technology to support
formative assessment.

10. References
• MacDonald and Twining (2002) “Assessing
activity-based learning for a networked course”
British Journal of Educational Technology Vol 33
No 5 2002
• Swan, Shen and Hiltz (2013) Assessment and
Collaboration in Online Learning,
http://www.wiredinstructor.us/pluginfile.php/15
87/mod_forum/attachment/1770/Assessment%2
0and%20Collaborative%20Learning%20-
%20assessment-and-collaboration.pdf