Get Your Students Hired
This is a general discussion forum for the following learning topic:
Evaluating Student Learning in Online Courses --> Value Added Assessment
Post what you've learned about this topic and how you intend to apply it. Feel free to post questions and comments too.
I learned about using rubrics to assess online learning. Suggestions include providing them to students when the project is assigned, or halfway through the project so they can assess and revise their work if needed.
I learned about the importance of providing rubrics to students prior to assignments.
In my experience, online courses need revision after every semester based off of student outcomes and their course evaluations
Rubrics are a key tool to assess student performance on practical tasks and assignments. Before a project or cooking demonstration, I make sure to provide students with a rubric that outlines exactly how their work will be evaluated. This helps them understand the criteria—such as technique, presentation, and time management—so they can prepare accordingly and focus on what's most important. Whether for a cooking test, a group project, or a written assignment, rubrics ensure that I’m consistent and clear in my evaluation and that students know what to expect.
I actually copied this and put it on a sticky note, as I find it so important:
The evaluation process for an online course should include the following steps:
Develop an overall evaluation strategy that helps the instructor plan how and when to evaluate the effectiveness of the instruction.
Develop a formative evaluation strategy that can be used to revise instruction as the course is being developed and implemented.
Develop a summative evaluation strategy that is conducted after instruction is completed and provides information for course revision and future planning.
Collect data from students using both quantitative and qualitative methods.
Collect and analyze evaluation data and make necessary changes. Careful analysis will help identify weaknesses and strengths in the instructional process.
Potential benefits are provided by value-added assessment over other methods of analyzing student scores include focus, fair comparison, accountability, and diagnostics. These all assist in investigating students' growth in learning by comparing students' current level of learning to their own past learning.
Rubrics should be used in the assessment process because many experts believe that rubrics improve students' end products and therefore increase learning. When students receive rubrics prior to the assignment/project, they understand how they will be evaluated and can prepare accordingly.
Rubrics are essential piece of information that provides specific feedback for students to grow and learn from.
Value-added assessments were presented in this section. They are helpful in that they give students a way of measuring their learning by comparing their current scores with prior ones.
I like the idea of developing value-added assessments that allow students to compare their progress to themselves over time. I do that a bit, but I'd like to figure out other ways of doing it.
I have learned to be more conscious of evaluating my evaluations and how effectively they are illustrating student learning.
During this session I was able to understand in depth the reasoning behind having a rubric and how that will help guide the assignment.
Although I have used rubrics for years, in this module i learned how essential they are for student success and learner understanding of the goals for the assignment.
By implementing Value Added Assessment in my classroom, I hope to create a more data-driven and student-centered learning environment.