Assessment measures how well a student has met a particular learning objective. For the course project you may use the assessment tools of your primary LMS (BbConnect, Moodle, Edge edX, or Eliademy) to design quizzes, assessments and exams, or you may choose to create a standalone assessment unit integrating it to your course site (consider using Quizlet platform).

 

Characteristics of effective digital assessments

• are focused on the concept being assessed, and exclude extraneous factors (not related to the learning objectives);
• provide effective diagnostics about student understanding and misconceptions;
• provide targeted feedback, addressing common misconceptions in the answer choices

Levels of assessment	Learning objectives	Examples
Basic – low level – remembering and understanding	Recognize the principle in altered format; Match component parts with vocabulary; Identify example seen before	Which of the following is an example of X (choices include one or more examples used in class); Identify the definition of X (multiple choice)
Normal – Middle level – applying knowledge	Recognize an example never seen before Solve a problem using a familiar format but different specifics	Which of the following is an example of X (choices include examples never seen in class); Here is a scenario, which one of the following principles applies?
Advanced- High level – analysing, evaluating, and creating	Pick out components of a situation. Problem solve by combining elements. Make judgements of value.	Which one of the following solutions would be the best to apply in the scenario described below to solve the problem of X? Here is a problem. Identify which principle from this class could be used to solve it. Following are several arguments made against the statement X. Which is the most valid?

What types of assessment to choose?

Learning objectives and the number of people enrolled determine a choice for the type of assessment: Selected-response assessment (in which students are asked to pick an answer from several options created by the instructor, such as: multiple choice questions, true-or-false questions, and matching questions), or constructed-response assessment (in which students create their own answer demonstrating understanding, knowledge of vocabulary, implementation of learned skills, via writing an essay, formulating a short answer, providing solutions to the problems via fill-in-the-blank.

Strengths and limitations of selected-response and constructed-response assessments

Selected-Response	Constructed-Response
More time consuming to create	More time consuming to grade
Students’ reading comprehension skills may influence their performance	Students’ writing skills may influence their performance
Fairly objective scoring (right/wrong)	Somewhat subjective scoring (using a rubric with criteria is recommended)
Somewhat susceptible to guessing	Less susceptible to guessing
Can cover a large amount of content (breadth)	Can cover a smaller amount of content in greater detail (depth)

 

Who grades the assessment?

1. Machine grading: Learning platform grades students, using artificial intelligence algorithms when necessary.
2. Instructor grading: Instructors grade students.
3. Peer grading: Students grade each other.
4. Self-grading: Students grade themselves.

Assessment for designing personalized learning paths

• Adaptive assessment: the assessment technique, which determines the succession of tasks and the level of difficulty basing on the previous results. Students who answer the question correctly move on the the next activity, or redirected to a set of more difficult questions, and those who answer incorrectly are given additional questions or content, or hints and have to re-answer the question to move on.
• Prior learning assessment: the assessment technique which establishes an entry point to the course material. The results of tests and exam become the selection criteria for enrolment.
• Competency-based assessment evaluates the student ability to demonstrate knowledge and skills for a particular competency.

Adapted from: StanfordOnline: O.P.E.N. Creating Effective Online and Blended Courses