HOW DO WE ASSESS LEARNING IN SELF-PACED ON-LINE CLASSES? Designers of an asynchronous learning network (ALN) must employ new methods to create effective assessment tools. Self-paced ALN environments present an even greater challenge, as they have no instructor formally affiliated with the course. Student learning is accurately measured only when instruction, practice and assessment are closely integrated into the design process.

Since ALNs rely so heavily on technology in their course delivery, they are uniquely adapted to use alternative assessment methods. These methods include interactive problem solving and use of multimedia and publishing capabilities of the Internet. Effective assessment should

be clearly related to instructional objectives
occur throughout the learning process
promote use of authentic, real life skills and activities 

Self-paced ALNs offer interactive instruction. This demonstratration shows how to draw an ellipsoid.
Image copyright ESRI Virtual Campus http://campus.esri.com

Designers must be careful to produce material that is self-explanatory and self-contained because students cannot rely on an instructor for clarification. Consequently, usability testing is a vital component of the design process. Here are some examples of tools that assess student learning in self-paced programs while incorporating technological methods:

Use ArcView GIS to perform a market analysis to determine the actual service area from which your customers travel to reach your business location. Using techniques described in the lesson, geocode the address database and then zoom in to see the areas of customer concentration.
Click here to view result.

Successful ALNs employ interactivity in their assessment tools. Interactive reviews, quizzes, and exercises should be included in the asynchronous learning environment. They should be structured so that students use higher cognitive skills to solve problems.

Online discussions involve students posting questions or responses to the course website or listserv. They can be synchronous, utilizing chat-lines and web/video conferencing technologies, or asynchronous, making use of threaded web discussion. Often this component requires a course monitor to initiate the process and keep it going. Discussions can be assessed quantitatively (the number of times a student participates) and/or qualitatively, where, students select their 'best' examples of participation and justify this selection.

Click here to view result.

Online quizzes provide immediate feedback cues for remediation.
Quizzes, such as true-false, multiple choice, and single answer responses are effective in self-paced situations. They can be used by students to monitor their own progress as they learn. Incorrect responses can provide a built in suggestion for remediation. A variation of this type of auto-corrected test is the adaptive assessment, where each correct option has a value attributed to it. Student answers on early questions determine the level of subsequent questions.

Assessment design is driven by instructional objectives. Multi-media enhancements must be pedagogically appropriate sinceALNs impose limitations on assessment design. Designers must take into consideration the wide variety of Internet connection speeds, access to resources and technical skillsets available to students in this process.

An excellent resource for ALNs is the
Journal of Asynchronous Learning Networks

For more information please see these EET articles:
Synchronous and Asynchronous Technologies
Kirkpatrick's Four Levels of Evaluation
Authentic Assessment: The complete learning picture

Janet Jubran
Department of Educational Technology
San Diego State University