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- Title
NEW DIRECTIONS IN ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION: AUTHENTIC ASSESSMENT IN FULLY ONLINE LEARNING COMMUNITIES.
- Authors
Robertson, Lorayne; Barber, Wendy
- Abstract
This chapter examines how the assessment and evaluation practices in higher education are changing and how these changes are prompted by accelerating trends related to technology adoption. As online learning evolves and is more widely embraced in higher education, more attention is being focused on meeting the needs of online learners. One contextual reality of higher education today is an identified skills gap, which is the prediction that higher education skills are not, at present, matching the requisite skills of the future workforce. With emerging technologies and an identified need for new skills, teaching models are shifting from the instructor (or the text) as the provider of content knowledge to newer models of learning where students and teachers build knowledge together in learning communities. Assessment and evaluation need to align with newer pedagogies such as knowledge building to allow students to demonstrate acquisition of deeper learning skills such as analysis, problem-solving, and communication. Another reality is that students need to acquire critical thinking skills in order to evaluate and organize the proliferation of information that is available online. As students invest in their learning, it is hoped that their focus can shift toward investing in learning how to acquire transferable skills. Students in higher education want to engage in solving problems which are relevant. In addition to all of these higher education challenges, learning how to learn has become a life-long endeavour which requires continuous upgrades. The face of education itself is changing as more adult and part-time students enrol in colleges and universities to reskill and keep pace with changing economies. The adult learner expects higher education to recognize her prior learning and skills, identify the next steps in learning, and maintain continuous contact with her. In the past, summative evaluations, asynchronously communicated at the exit of a course or program were the purpose and focus of assessment. Now, student assessment needs to re-purpose itself and consider forms of assessment which support individualization, connectivity, and deeper learning. Within this chapter, we begin by examining these new contextualized assessment imperatives. Next, we ground our approach to online assessment and evaluation in policy, theory, and practice. In the policy arena, we refer to widely-acknowledged principles for quality student assessment which have currency in Canadian and global academic communities. In theory, we examine how people learn in community with other learners, and focus specifically on fully online learning communities. Finally, we focus on our practice: redesigning learning spaces and activities to include variety in assessment and evaluation in online learning communities.
- Subjects
DISTANCE education; HIGHER education; LEARNING communities; PROBLEM solving; CRITICAL thinking
- Publication
Journal of Education Research, 2017, Vol 11, Issue 3, p249
- ISSN
1935-052X
- Publication type
Article