Online and Mobile Assessment

Online education, and more recently, mobile education, have become for many learners, the dawn of a new day. When online education was first proposed as a viable alternative to traditional classroom education, many threatening predictions were made by doubtful individuals who thought it virtually unlikely. Many saw the proposal as leading to the downfall of traditional colleges and universities. They thought that the ability of students to study anywhere and anytime meant the replacement of brick-and-mortar-classrooms by virtual anywhere institutions.
In spite of varying perceptions toward online education, however, online learning has not only grown at a tremendous pace; it has occurred in a revolutionary way as most students have now added online learning as part of their classroom-based curriculum.
Online and mobile education has been revolutionized by many unforeseen factors. Contrary to prior concerns of groupings by income, race, or ethnicity, students enrolled in online courses are like their traditional classroom peers in all three areas. But online students do tend to be older than traditional classroom peers. Online students are also more likely to be female, and most students are independent, compared to the number of dependent students attending traditional classrooms.
Among the many concerns of critics of online education were issues regarding how students would fare, and where students would choose to study. Many predicted the possibility that students would suffer because of the absence of face-to-face communications between and among students and instructors. But contrary to that prediction, two thirds of all students simply utilize the internet as a supplement to the classroom, and not as a replacement. As to the choice of study locations, critics who predicted that students would take online classes at distant institutions, have been proven to have been inaccurate in their predictions as, surprisingly, years of research have shown that a vast majority of students take online courses from institutions that are within close proximity to home.
Although there is a variety of online and mobile assessment, among methods available for measuring student learning, some experts continue to decry both the quantity and quality. Online/mobile assessment methods should be effective for measuring student outcome as well as application of knowledge, but some believe that current methods are lacking in effectiveness to determine students’ learning success
Online and mobile learning are here to stay, and are quickly replacing much of classroom instruction and changing the way teachers teach. Roles have changed so that the student is now the more active participant. That calls for self-discipline, motivation, and learning through discovery.
Current online methods of assessment are tools that have been devised to provide useful feedback, accountability, and opportunity to demonstrate quality instruction. They are designed to monitor student learning, improve academic programs, and enhance the process of teaching and learning. Current online assessment methods include the development of practical scenarios for learning; alignment of learning objects with practical scenarios and the prompt use of accessible software. There is also the added benefit of the availability of an online mentor to provide assistance and to help make learning occur, and the delivery of an on-site, instructor-based training responsive to individual student learning differences.
The use of effective assessment techniques is essential to online teaching and learning. Based on the adult learning theory and the adult learning process, on learners should be assessed by means of learning objectives lined up with realistic scenarios. This method allows for critical thinking and practical application, combined with learning through discovery. This method is also congruent with online and mobile assessment since it takes away the activity from the instructor and places both the activity and the responsibility to acquire and apply knowledge on the student.

References

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