Assessment and Evaluation

The critical role of assessment and evaluation in ensuring a collaborative constructivist educational experience is examined in this chapter. We have reserved a full chapter to this topic due to the pervasive and significant influence that assessment has on learning. While it is seen as a teaching presence responsibility, it is integral to establishing effective social and cognitive presence. Therefore, assessment is an essential process to maintain a dynamic balance among the presences in the complex environment of a purposeful community of inquiry. Although the terms assessment and evaluation have occasionally been

used synonymously, there is an important difference between the terms. Assessment is associated with determining students’ learning processes and outcomes. Such assessment is, by necessity, multifaceted and can include acquisition of skills and behavioral competencies; competency in applying cognitive skills, including capacity to apply critical and creative solutions to complex problems; and attitudinal demeanor, including capacity to be positively engaged in a community of inquiry. Generally, assessment occurs throughout the course, thereby, providing formative feedback to students; and at the completion of the course, providing summative information on successes and failures from student and teacher perspectives. On the other hand, the term evaluation is used to refer to the act of

comparing a unit, course, or program against some set of performance or outcome criteria. These criteria are often set by external agents or organizations, but the interests of the teacher and students are also driving forces within evaluation policies. Comprehensive evaluation includes measures of learning, satisfaction, costing and cost-benefits, and other criteria for program success as defined by any or all relevant stakeholders or participants. While this is often externally driven, evaluation should be open to analysis and understanding by the learning community, even if this is nonnegotiable.

The importance of assessment in an educational experience cannot be overestimated. As Rowntree (1977) states, “If we wish to discover the truth

about an educational system, we must look into its assessment procedures” (p. 1). This is one of the great truths and constants of a formal educational program of study. There is consensus that assessment fundamentally shapes learning, particularly if we hope to approach learning in a deep and meaningful manner (Garrison & Archer, 2000). When it comes to the pedagogical importance and influence of assessment in an educational experience, online and blended learning are not exempt. The focus of the discussion here is from an educational perspective and,

therefore, much of the theory and practice of a quality educational experience that has been developed for campus-based education are directly relevant for the design of assessment in online and blended learning contexts. Assessment in an online learning context is complicated by many factors, including the effects of the communication media; the lack of physical proximity and body language used for feedback in classrooms; the limited instructor supervision over the learning process; the difficulty of authentication and cheating on exams in distributed contexts; and the likely reduction of informal, after-class interaction. Assessment is directly linked to effective teaching and learning by revealing

student understanding and achievement. For assessment to be successful, it must first be congruent with intended learning outcomes. For example, if the goal is to realize deep understanding of concepts and develop critical thinking abilities, the focus of assessment must be understanding and thinking-not the recall of fragmented bits of information. Therefore, assessment should diagnose misconceptions during the learning process and assess the quality of intended learning outcomes. This form of in-depth assessment is not for the faint of heart in any educational experience and it is no less challenging in an e-learning environment. However, the challenges can be mitigated through the effective use of the interactive and collaborative activities made possible by the technology and the use of assessment techniques consistent with the potential of online and blended learning for collaboration.