Mid-South Instructional Technology Conference
Teaching, Learning, & Technology
The Challenge Continues
March 30-April 1, 2003
2003 Conference Proceedings
Evaluating ELearning: A Front-End, Process and Post Hoc Approach
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By: Temba C.
Bassoppo-Moyo |
Abstract
The proliferation of online courses has become a major concern for some educators when it comes to whether they apply valid and reliable instruments to assess learning outcomes. This presentation explores eLearning from two related perspectives of planning and evaluation. The initial phase explores current and recommended front-end approaches to improving online instruction. The second phase looks at several approaches to online measurement and testing methods that are designed to eliminate administrative and technical problems associated with eLearning.
Proceeding
The proliferation of on-line courses has become a major concern for some educators when it comes to whether they apply valid and reliable instruments to assess learning outcomes. In addition, few publications seem to have dealt with the faculty realm that addresses the front-end fundamental learning principles of instruction that underlie quality of online learning. For, example what are the administrative requirements which determine quality of online instruction when compared with traditional instructional approaches? What constitutes eLearning, and how similar or different is this method of instruction with other computer-based instructional delivery systems? What types of front-end analyses can be applied when establishing eLearning environments, and how do these front-end analyses or procedures compare with other course management or instructional delivery strategies.
Overall, there does not seem to be a clear co-ordination or consensus of thought and methodology between what is expected from online courses, and what is generally delivered. As a result, course management systems, which are mainly computer-based, vary in type and delivery approach from institution to institution. In the meantime national standards associations have shifted the focus from traditional input resource metrics, to overall dimensions of quality of the educational experience that emphasize the inclusion of hypertext-hypermedia technology in course delivery environments.
Looking at an instructional strategy that has generally been viewed as less than reliable in eliciting valid performance measures, educators are beginning to look at eLearning in a more critical perspective. The issue of online testing and assessment has always presented problems, especially when one considers the pervasive absence of face-to-face interactions that are the cornerstones of traditional education. Generally, in addition to proctored tests and other measurement instruments, face-to-face interactions enable teachers to use informal observation techniques to gauge student response, obtain feedback, and progress toward prescribed goals. This lack of nonverbal cueing, a technique rampant in traditional delivery systems, poses a great challenge to online assessment.
This presentation explores eLearning from three related perspectives, two of which address the planning and administration of online courses. The latter part of this discussion looks at the evaluation and assessment of learning outcomes in an eLearning environment.
The initial phase thoroughly explores current and recommended front-end approaches to improving online instruction. It looks at the organizational aims and the vision within which eLearning can be applied.
For example, this phase answers the types of questions that relate to what eLearning is? The organizational aims of establishing eLearning which mainly focus on:
- the fostering of significant learning improvements, using the most advanced and proven educational techniques.
- the provision of present and future students with the information and communication technology skills they will require as employees in a knowledge-based economy.
- the facilitation of collaborative learning experiences among teachers and students through electronically based educational projects.
- the development of staff who are professionally informed in understanding the opportunities presented by eLearning and for professional development courses to improve their skills.
The second phase examines the planning, implementation and administration of online courses. It investigates characteristics of effective eLearning environments that address physical, technical, pedagogical, professional and environmental elements that include:
- geographically boundless, networked, community learning centers.
- learning communities that are integrated into even wider global communities that allow for authentic links between and among each other.
- an environment where reliable, high bandwidth networks allow the eLearning "school" to become more than a physical location.
- interregional "learning hubs" that allow for both physical and virtual classrooms that also allow for the administration of both synchronous and asynchronous learning environments.
The third and final phase explores several reliable and valid approaches to online measurement and testing methods that are designed to eliminate such problems as plagiarism, technical problems associated with access, matching learners’ and instructors' technical skill levels, learner isolation, and the impersonality of computerized assessment. The study explores assessment strategies that include:
- Showcasing
- Portfolio Assessment
- Affective assessment
- Selected-response assessment
- Constructed-response assessment
- Learning record models
- Moderation processes
- Controlled standardized scores
Finally the study looks at maximizing instructor control over assessment conditions and increasing online instruments validity and reliability while at the same time addressing issues that are administrative in nature. Future cutting age assessment of learning outcomes techniques are discussed in regard to how they may affect online instructional design and technology application strategies.