Assessing Online

Assessment shapes learning and online learning can enable deep and meaningful learning. However 'the context within which education is practised affects design and practice' including online learning. (Garrison and Anderson 2003 E-Learning for the 21st Century, p. 93) Effective use of online interactive and collaborative characteristics can enable indepth assessment including revealing understanding and achievement which is congruent with intended learning outcomes.

Online assessment includes quizzes such as multiple choice, true/false, ordering, matching, multiple answers, short answers. The advantage of most forms of online quizzes is the feature of computer generated feedback. Learners can receive instant feedback on their answers and this feedback can be specific to the answer they have given (individualised feedback provided by the lecturer). Lecturers do not have to spend hours marking work but instead can track the status of learners including marks/grades achieved. Other ways of assessing student learning online includes the use of collaborative features such as discussion boards and groups, as well as the use of reflective journals. MyUni, the University of Adelaide's learning management system provides all of these features. For more information see Assessment Tools.

Online assessment is also flexible in that learners are able to undertake assessments at any time and any place where they have access to a computer and the Internet whether on campus, at home, at work, libraries etc. This is the case for both distance education and blended models of learning.

There are various types of assessment, including diagnostic, formative and summative. The online environment is particularly suitable for diagnostic and formative assessments. For further details refer to Types of Assessment.

One of the pedagogical strengths of online assessment is that it allows for effective assessment of both quality and participation. See Effective Learning. Collaboration and groupwork can be enhanced and assessed in an online environment. See Groupwork. Plagiarism is an area of special interest to both lecturers and learners and the advent of online plagiarism prevention tools can assist in this regard. The University of Adelaide currently is licensed to use Turnitin, a web-based plagiarism prevention tool. See Plagiarism Prevention.