Traditional Assessment Tools in an Online Classroom

Traditional assessment tools can be used and improved in line with the use of technology. By inserting graphics into quizzes and quizzes, adding interactive questions and even embedding videos, you can spice up your evaluations online and even get more positive results!

Let’s start this series on online assessment tools by recognizing that the online classroom is a very different place from a traditional classroom, especially in the high school environment. While teachers need to maintain physical control over a traditional classroom, online teachers need to cultivate a much more fluid social environment.

Since students and instructors interact in a very different way in the online classroom, it makes sense that traditional assessment tools are also different. When considering an assessment in your online course, think outside the box. Yes, there is room for traditional evaluation techniques. This article will help you integrate them in an interesting way. However, multiple choice, true / false, and other assessment criteria should only be a small fraction of how you measure students. The next article, Online Assessment Tools for Games and Activities of the Online Teachers Group, will provide you with alternatives to traditional assessment techniques.

A picture is worth a thousand words, right? Harness the power of images in your online course and include them in your online assessment. For example, all diagrams that you use to teach a course automatically become candidates for a test question. You can delete numbers, words or captions, download them to your test program and ask questions about it. This strategy automatically puts the question you put in context for the student and gives him the comfort of seeing a familiar object.

A similar type of online evaluation can be done with videos. Scientific demonstrations are common in my chemistry class. When it comes to testing time, I like to play a video of a demonstration (or an alternative to YouTube) and follow it with multiple choice or true / false questions. This type of assessment helps visual and auditory learners connect to the material. You can easily embed a video evaluation on almost any topic if you’re watching a clip from a movie, then ask additional questions.

This website is a free resource that allows teachers to download tests and quizzes. You also have the option to upload photos to accompany your test questions. Students then take their exams online and the program instantly scores the work. Student comments are also an option.

Whatever traditional or new assessment tools you choose for online assessment, consider the learning styles of your students. Vary the way you measure what they are learning and communicate with them in their “language”. This will make the learning / testing process much more productive and enjoyable for everyone.