Every teacher and every student is certainly familiar with the concept of learning assessment as a crucial part of course teaching and learning. It is said that learning assessment is the baton for conducting teaching and learning and it is also said that learning assessment is a measuring instrument to judge the effect of the teacher’s work as well as the results of the students’ learning.
So after all how we should regard and understand learning assessment? With the rapid development of information technology, online learning is revealing ever stronger vitality. Compared with traditional learning models, the methods and learning behavior in online learning differ tremendously from traditional learning. Accordingly, what changes have happened in terms of the theories and practices of online learning assessment？ What is the difference between online homework and assessment compared with traditional classroom work and assessment? How are we to carry out group study in the context of online learning? What new opportunities and challenges does information technology provide to learning assessment? For e-learning educators Online Assessment is intended to provide a platform for communication, sharing, exploration, Q&A， and the exchange of ideas. It is also expected to offer some relevant theoretical guidance and design methods about online learning evaluation so as to improve the design and implementation of online learning evaluation.
Online Assessment adopts the crucial issues concerning related online learning theories and practices as the mainline of the course content, meanwhile combining necessary fundamentals of educational measurement and statistics to display the online learning evaluation design (basic methods), implementation of online learning evaluation (key technologies) and how to carry out online learning unit evaluation (evaluation of the online learning evaluation). The teaching objectives of this course include: (1) to understand the fundamental characteristics of online learning evaluation; (2) to master the basic design methods and implementation methods of online learning evaluation; (3) to learn about the key technologies and tools to make online learning evaluation;(4) to learn how to make good use of data; (5) to learn about typical domestic and international cases of online learning evaluation
Online Assessment is characterized by : (1) Modular learning content; the course content is divided into five unit modules by weeks: get to know the course and ice-breaking, online learning evaluation design, implementation of online learning evaluation, evaluation of online learning evaluation and practices. (2) Case observation and discussions; the module-based learning content is integrated with real case studies , to explore online learning evaluation by observing domestic and international cases. (3) Technical support and exploration; explore the application of information technology in online learning evaluation, such as via the Moodle platform, Wiki, etc. (4) Multiple evaluations; explore in the massive online learning process the ways to enable the teachers, students, groups to make evaluations with the data, and explore the self-driven and collaborative innovation evaluation etc.
The teacher team for this course is made up by Wang Lina, Liu Yuxia, Rehati, Li Guangde, Zhao Ying. We look forward to those interested in online learning evaluation joining us to study and explore together…
By Wang Lina, OUC