Assessment
There are sometimes concerns voiced about using the online environment for assessment. These concerns are based on the belief that the delivery mode interferes in some way with assessment. Assessment must be valid, reliable, flexible and fair. These principles of assessment apply whether the assessment is conducted one-on-one, in a group, online or from the back of a camel. Assessment tools, online or otherwise, should be validated before they are used and the assessor's role is to ensure that the process provides sufficient evidence for them to make a professional judgement about competence.
How the online environment can SUPPORT the assessment process and provide significant flexibility:
Documentary evidence
A person's work role may require them to complete paperwork such as write memos, reports, performance appraisals. These can be evidence that they are competent at what they do and they may be asked to provide particular documents as part of the assessment. The requirements can be written up in the Online Learning Centre so that the candidate is aware of what is expected, then the documentation can be shown to the assessor personally, emailed, posted, faxed in or uploaded into the Online Learning Centre. This is an excellent way to support the RPL process.
Work projects
Work projects are practical workplace activities that are written up, usually in report format. The assessment tasks can be written up in the Online Learning Centre. Any templates needed to support the project can be uploaded into the Assessment section so that candidates can download them when they are ready and complete them at their own pace. The completed documents are then uploaded by the candidate into the ‘dropbox' inside the Online Learning Centre. The assessor is able to download and mark them in the usual way.
Short reports or essays
A short written account of a particular event or situation can be set as an assessment task and treated in the same manner as the work project.
Third party verification
Sometimes the candidate may be required to supply the name and contact details of a person who can verify some aspect of their workplace performance. This person is not assessing them- simply supporting that they actually carry out a particular task or role. A Verification Sheet, or similar document, can be made available in the Online Learning Centre for the candidate to download and give to the person. This Verification sheet can be scanned in after it has been signed and uploaded via the ‘dropbox'. The assessor may also choose to contact this person by email or telephone if there is a specific query.
Journal entries
The Learning Centre has facility for the candidate to make entries in a special notepad. It is useful for responses to questions of a reflective nature and can be seen by the assessor who is able to add comments. It is similar to keeping a log or diary.
Collaborative participation
Some assessors require that a candidate post at least two responses to topics on the discussion board. This is similar to compulsory attendance at tutorials in an offline environment.
How the online environment can ENABLE the assessment process and provide significant reliability:
Automatically marked knowledge test
Multiple choice questions may be randomly selected from an online question bank for answer under time pressure. They are marked immediately and automatically. If the assessor has set it up as an option, a candidate can see their result at the end of the test and may even be able to be re-directed to online learning material where they can revise any questions they had incorrect.
This is an excellent way to test the knowledge component of a unit of competency as, once good questions are set, it ensures validity, reliability and consistency.
Short answers
Questions that require short written answers of a few sentences are completed online and submitted immediately. The answers are stored ready for online viewing by the assessor. This is an excellent way to conduct an open book test. Also the candidate's answers are stored indefinitely.