As an elementary teacher, my poor little 8 year olds are benchmarked, standardized, and field tested out the wazuba. It is not my choice to administer them, but they are a reality of school. Fortunately, I give them the opportunity to demonstrate their learning in other ways throughout the year.
Teaching online requires assessing too. Fortunately again, the assessments in your course don't need to be standardized tests either! If you want to include them in your course, you can, however you can use any other alternative assessments for your students can apply their learning! Way more fun!
So here's a short list of many alternative assessments you can use in your online course.
1. Research papers
2. Power point presentations and other presentation platforms
3. Journals
4. Info-graphics
5. Blog posts
6. Discussion board conversations
7. Case studies
8. Pod casts
9. Video presentations
10. Speeches
I'll stop there. You get the idea. There are so many ways to assess learning - and none of these assessments are tests! So when you create your course, you'll want to include a variety of assessments to capture all the knowledge your students are learning and synthesizing.
Now let's examine two of my favorite alternative assessments.
The first is the reflection journal. I use this currently with my 8-year olds and I will use this with adult learners. When students can articulate content knowledge in their own words and provide examples through writing, you know analysis and synthesis of content has taken place. To me, reading reflections are a glimpse into the learner's mind about specific parts of the content you've delivered and what the student's mind has captured as important information. Reflection journals provide insight into the learner, allowing us to see where both gaps in knowledge and deep understanding reside.
The second would be some sort of info-graphic project. I would call these 21st century "posters". I am a visual learner, as are so many others, and I always value a well-done visual presentation of information. Choosing key content and carefully chosen or created visuals that really add to the meaning of the text is a very powerful synthesis of content. The creation of info-graphics can be as simple or as complex as the learner wants to make it. There are millions of examples to look at which are all very unique, so this really captures the learner's creativity.
These assessments are actually fun to grade and a lot more interesting for your students to create. Which ones will you choose?
Resources:
Module 3 - Assessments in Online Classes (cmu content)
Assessing Learning in Online Learning -
http://itle.okstate.edu/fd/online_teaching/assessment.html
Inforgraphics as a Creative Assessment -
http://home.edweb.net/infographics-as-a-creative-assessment/
Journal Writing as a Teaching Technique to Promote Reflection -
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1472640/
