After attending the Google Summit I had a variety of ideas I wanted to explore for assessment but found I did not have the time to explore these in time to complete the assignment. Instead I did focus on exploring tools within Moodle which I had not used before. Initially, I was impressed with the variety of question styles offered and the customization features.
As a first attempt at creating assessment in an LMS, I created a quiz in Module 1 based on Chapter 9 materials. I used a variety of question styles in order to try out multiple functions. I found that the short answer would only accept a precise replica of my sentence. This is very limiting unless you are providing students with choices of words or sentences. In that case, why not then use a multiple choice question or matching questions instead? The short answer format does not seem to be the more versatile or user friendly. Instead I include one essay style question that would require me to mark manually, but this might give me as an instructor a better understanding of what the student has learnt. The advantages of online assessment are the prompt, if not immediate, feedback features. However, surveys, quizzes and questionnaires do not provide formative feedback but rather summative feedback.
I was not satisfied with my first quiz and felt that the Chapter 9 materials was limiting in the variety of questions I could ask. In Module 2, for Chapter 10 materials, I decided to go through a progression of assessment activities culminating in a quiz. To begin with, I introduce a discussion forum where I can have students post a response to a discussion question. Ideally this will provide an opportunity for students to demonstrate their learning and receive formative feedback from the instructor. In addition,
I have included a choice option. Students will investigate a technology of their choosing and create a presentation on it and its contribution to the exploration of extreme environments. As educators we know the importance of choice in student learning. Including an activity where students can investigate something of interest to them and allowing them the freedom to demonstrate that learning in a style they can best communicate (whether, slideshow, video, mind map, etc…). Finally I created another quiz based on a greater span of materials and meeting all the criteria for the assessment tool assignment. This progression of assessment activities will hopefully meet more of the conditions under which assessment can support learning as outlined by Gibbs and Simpson (2005).
Gibbs, G. & Simpson, C. (2005). “Conditions under which assessment supports students’ learning.” Learning and Teaching in Higher Education Retrieve February 24, 2014.