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From the Quality Framework
From the Quality Framework
Assessment Strategies for a Virtual Environment
Assessment gathers information about student progress in meeting course learning outcomes. In the online environment, thoughtful assessment design is key to the meaningful measure of student performance. Virtual assessment presents unique challenges which require different approaches than traditional classroom assessment strategies. At the same time, online assessments still need to follow the practices outlined in the Seneca Student Assessment Policy
Guiding Questions
Do the assessments measure the intended learning goals? Have the assessments been clearly linked to the appropriate learning outcomes and communicated to the students? Do the assessment methods allow students to demonstrate achievement of the learning outcomes at the appropriate level of learning? For example, tests and question-based assignments target recall and understanding of information, while problem-solving and scenario-based assignments target application of knowledge and critical thinking.
Do assessment technologies or digital assignments support authentic assessment of knowledge and skills?
Do you regularly check student understanding of lesson topics through diagnostic and formative assessments? Are these assessments woven into the lesson structure? It is important in the online environment to check-in often (for example, weekly) with students to determine where they may be struggling.
Do you provide timely and meaningful feedback to students? How do students know about their progress towards meeting learning goals?
Do you emphasize the importance of academic integrity with students and have you taken steps to create a culture of academic integrity in your course? Have you incorporated academic integrity strategies into your assessment designs? For example, have you considered using authentic assessments, allowing students to choose topics or personalize assignments, changing questions each semester, or creating open-book assignments? Are you aware of the limitations of technology to ensure academic integrity online? Do you include links to academic integrity resources, such as the academic integrity website, online modules, and Seneca Academic Integrity Policy?
Main Content
Main Content
Assessment Design
Assessment Design
When designing assessments, the most important thing to remember is they must be related to the learning outcomes. All Seneca Courses have learning outcomes, visible on the course outlines. To design great assessments, consider the learning outcomes and determine how you can best evaluate students on their success in achieving these outcomes.
Once you have an idea in mind, you'll need to write instructions:
Give clear and detailed instructions to students
Give them the rubric beforehand (see the 'Feedback Strategy' section of this page).
Consider giving an example of the type of work you are expecting
When it comes to technologies, things can quickly get out of hand. When choosing a technology to use, the golden rule is:
You are using it for its pedagogical value, not simply because it has a shiny new interface.
Seneca's Educational Technology Advisory Committee (ETAC) regularly meets to consider and evaluate new technology tools. They keep a running list of online tools that have passed a vetting process. See their suggestions here. Any of those tools have been deemed assessible, equitable and appropriate for learning.
If you are venturing outside these suggestions consider the following:
Is the tool available through Seneca MyApps? If so, it is available for students to use for free.
Depending on student's hardware and software, MyApps may not be an extremely reliable service. Use such apps sparingly, and only if using these programs is a relevant skill for students to master.
The program should be usable without registering.
The program should be usable by students who use screen-readers and other assistive technologies
This can be difficult for instructors to assess. The safest bet is to use the tools suggested by Seneca's ETAC!
Assessment Types
Assessment Types
Assessments come in three general categories: Summative, Diagnostic and Formative. A well designed course will contain a mix of all three. Further, the methods and activities that are used will vary as well. This means that a variety of tools are used to create a variety of assessment types.
Summative Assessments
A summative assessment is our usual idea of an assessment: it gives a mark for student understanding at the end of a unit, module, or semester.
When determining what summative assessments to use, variety is key.
Mix and match any of the following:
Discussion board posts
Written reflections
Research papers
Creating videos and other media
Presentations
True and False / Multiple Choice question quizzes
Short and Long answer quizzes
At Teaching & Learning we suggest using 4-5 assessment forms throughout the semester. Do we?
Diagnostic and Formative Assessments
These are assessments that do not have marks attached to them. Use diagnostic assessments to gauge the level of knowledge students are coming to you with. Use formative assessments to check whether they are learning the material you are teaching.
Discussion Boards (either through Blackboard or Padlet) can be a great way to engage students in a discussion while simultaneously allowing you see what content they are understanding and their opinions on topics.
Another great way to achieve this is to create mini-quizzes before, during, or after a lesson. Some tools to do so:
Asynchronous:
MS Forms
BB quizzes (be sure to tell students that their grade on the quiz will not be counted towards their final grade)
Mentimeter Quizzes
Google Forms
Synchronous:
Mentimeter quizzes during a live session
Blackboard/Zoom polls
Kahoot
There are plenty of other tools that can be used. Be sure to check out Seneca's Educational Technology Advisory Council's suggested tools. (See them here)
Options.
We all love options, and students do too!
Allow students freedom to choose topics from a selection, with an invitation to e-mail you to discuss other options.
Where possible, allow students to submit different assessment types. For example, you might ask for presentations to be done live during a class, or that students submit a video of themselves to you. Is this something we agree with? I'm not sure if this what is being referred to, by "Students are provided with assessment options to best demonstrate their learning. "
Feedback Strategy
Feedback Strategy
Every assignment you create should have a rubric with it that is provided to students beforehand.
Rubrics can be done manually (use a table in Word) and added to the assignment instructions.
Create another document that lists your rubric sections and their point totals in plain text. When marking, copy and paste this into the feedback box and just fill in the point totals. You can also put comments you regularly use here too.
Rubrics can also be made with Blackboard for a given assignment. See a quick guide on how to create Rubrics in Blackboard.
Feedback should be timely. Aim to have most assignments marked within 2 weeks of their due date.
Marking and feedback can often be the most time consuming aspect of teaching. While there isn't a way to avoid marking, some things can make it easier:
Keep a document of common feedback and phrases and copy and paste them as needed.
Make use of Blackboard's inline grading features. See a quick overview here.
Consider giving less feedback but communicating to students that if they'd like more detailed feedback, they can ask for it. Do we agree?
Students should also know how they are doing in the course. The easiest way to achieve this is to have all summative assignments submitted and marked through Blackboard. This keeps the Grade Center updated.
You can use the 'Weighted Total' column in Grade Center to keep a running tab of student grades.
If you pre-create all your columns (either manually or with assignments) you can create the running total from day 1
If you create assignments as the semester progresses, be sure to update the weighted column information after each assignment
See here for a quick overview of how to configure the weighted total column.
Assessing with Integrity
Assessing with Integrity
Academic integrity is a big challenge in online environments. There are many ways to attempt to stop this sort of behaviour. Below are just a few ideas.
General
Encourage student's to view Seneca's Academic Integrity policy and provide a link to it. (Visible here)
Encourage students to complete Seneca's Academic Integrity module and educate themselves about what academic integrity is and what their responsibilities are. (Visible here)
Do we want to tell them to ask students to submit a copy of the badge?
In Quizzes and Tests
Avoid multiple choice and true and false questions that rely on recalling factual information that can be easily Googled
Try to create test questions that ask students to apply knowledge rather than recall it
Questions that are scenario based are a great way to achieve this
Use Pools of test questions to ensure that students receive a different exam
Set the quiz to have a random order, prohibit backtracking, and that questions are viewed one at a time. (See here for an image of these options)
Do we have an overview of how to use test pools and question sets?
Of course, not all of these ideas will be suitable for all courses, so perhaps the best thing you can do is simply limit the amount of grades attached to these sorts of quizzes (approximately 30%). Do we agree with this?
In Assignments
Have students complete personal reflections or opinion papers
Make sure SafeAssign is selected for any written assignments submitted through Blackboard
Scaffold assignments with smaller ones
For example, if a final project is a research paper, consider splitting it into two smaller ones: an annotated bibliography and then the final paper
If there is a large written assignment, ask for a draft.
You can also provide general feedback for the draft and include a section in the final rubric for the incorporation of feedback
Designing assessments that encourage integrity can be a real challenge.
The goal is to strive to create assignments that ask students to apply knowledge rather than recall knowledge.
Ideas
Ideas
Upping your Assessment Game
Upping your Assessment Game
Seneca's Teaching & Learning Centre has created a number of Nutshells - short, self-paced modules on a variety of topics. Below, are a few assessment specific topics that are worth investigating.
Authentic Assessment in the Online Classroom
Aligning Assessments with Learning Outcomes
Going online with Academic Integrity
Seneca's Teaching & Learning Centre, in collaboration with the Seneca Sandbox, Humber College's Centre for Teaching & Learning, and the Humber Libraries Idea Lab have created a resource for this who are interested in designing digital assessments. These are assignments that ask students to create digital content: videos, podcasts, infographics, websites, blogs, for example.
For those interested, you can view their resource here.
Seneca's Teaching & Learning Centre curates resources and articles about assessments. The main topics are:
Authentic Assessment (see below as well)
Faculty are encouraged to explore the resources available and incorporate anything they find useful into their own teaching.
Authentic Assessments
Authentic Assessments
Authentic assessments are a great way to engage students and reduce the instances of academic dishonesty. The major theoretical shift behind an authentic assessment compared to traditional assessments is that an authentic assessment will ask students to 'do' something: to apply their learning rather than recall it.
The accepted definition of authentic assessment is an assessment that:
is realistic.
requires judgment and innovation.
asks the student to “do” the subject.
replicates or simulates the contexts in which adults are “tested” in the workplace or in civic or personal life.
assesses the student’s ability to efficiently and effectively use a repertoire of knowledge and skills to negotiate a complex task.
allows appropriate opportunities to rehearse, practice, consult resources, and get feedback on and refine performances and products.
These sorts of assignments focus on students demonstrating a skill rather than recalling factual information.
Creating authentic assessments involves returning to the learning outcomes of a course and reflecting on how you can ask students to demonstrate a mastery of those learning outcomes.
Resources
While the concept of authentic assessment may be simple in theory, it can be quite difficult to come up with appropriate ideas. Below are a few resources to use when deciding how to implement authentic assessments into your course.
Authentic Assessment ideas - by Seneca's Teaching & Learning Centre
Authentic Assessments - by Indiana University Bloomington's Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning
Authentic Assessments Webinar - by Amy Lin, Linda Facchini and Angele Ripley, part of Seneca's Teaching & Learning Day Fall 2020.
Authentic Assessment Toolbox - by Jon Mueller
The Policies
The Policies
There are two main Seneca Policies that have to do with Assessment: The Student Assessment Policy and the Academic Integrity Policy.
The Student Assessment Policy contains important information about how assessments at Seneca operate. A few highlights:
Grades will not be assigned for attendance
Participation can be used as part of the grading scheme
No single assessment may be worth more than 40% of a student's grade
Feedback must be provided to students within 10 business days
Students must receive feedback on assessments worth at least 30% of their grade one week prior to the withdrawal date.
Assessments must be varied. Where possible, students should have more than one opportunity to demonstrate achievement of a learning outcome.
The Academic Integrity Policy contains information definitions and important information regarding academic integrity procedures.
Using MentiMeter for Formative Assessments
Using MentiMeter for Formative Assessments
Seneca has purchased licenses for Mentimeter for all faculty. It is a great tool to add formative assessment and engagement into your course. It can used both synchronously and asynchronously, making it a very versatile tool.
You can use it to add all sorts of questions, polls, and mini quizzes into a live lecture.
Use it asynchronously to obtain course feedback, create formative and diagnostic assessments, or even ice breakers!
Things to Keep in Mind:
Mentimeter has a function that allows for timed, live quizzes. Though these can be a fun competition to include in your classes, the time based function means they are not accessible to all students. Consider not using this function at all, or doing so sparingly.
When using Mentimeter in a synchronous environment (Presenter Paced), consider changing the presentation to 'Audience Paced' and providing students with the voting and results link after the session.
This will allow students to review the content presented via Mentimeter.
Here is an asynchronous ice breaker to see Mentimeter in action!
Feel free to work your way through it!
See the results from this asynchronous icebreaker from a course at Seneca:
Select the content below and use either your arrow keys to work through it, or the small arrows on the bottom right of the image.
These are just a couple ways that Mentimeter can be used in a classroom. There are plenty of other things you can do with it!
So hop on over to Mentimeter and get experimenting!
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