3.+Assessments+and+Feedback

=**Feedback and Assessment** =



**Regular feedback and authentic assessment is crucial to keeping a student on task and motivated to learn. Projects and lessons loose thier relevance if there is no regular contact with instructors and peers. The following lists discuss feedback and assessment in the online classroom.**

The following list is a guidleline for feedback in the online setting:


 * The teacher provides online leadership in a manner that promotes student success through regular feedback, prompt response and clear expectations.


 * Models effective communication skills and maintains records of applicable communications with students.


 * Encourages interaction and cooperation among students, encourages active learning, provides prompt feedback, communicates high expectations, and respects diverse talents and learning styles.


 * Persists, in a consistent and reasonable manner, until students are successful.


 * Establishes and maintains ongoing and frequent teacher-student interaction, student- student interaction and teacher-parent interaction.


 * Provides an online syllabus that defines objectives, concepts and learning outcomes in a clearly written, concise format.


 * Provides an online syllabus that defines the terms of class interaction for both teacher and students, defines clear expectations for both teacher and students, defines the grading criteria, establishes inappropriate behavior criteria for both teacher and students, and explains the course organization to students.


 * Uses student data to inform instruction, guides and monitors students’ management of their time, monitors learner progress with available tools and develops an intervention plan for unsuccessful learners.


 * Provides timely, constructive feedback to students about assignments and questions.


 * Gives students clear expectations about teacher response time.


 * Contacts students who are not participating.


 * Recognizes that student interaction with the lesson has instructional value and therefore encourages students to participate in leading the instruction and/or demonstrating mastery of the content in other appropriate ways.


 * Personalizes feedback (support, growth and encouragement).


 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Communicates high expectations.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">//Retrieved on May 23, 2011 from pdf version of National Standards for Quality Online Teaching//

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> **Assessments** <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">are more formal, including more specific criteria than feedback. Assessments are usually scheduled, used to mark milestones within a project. Sometimes peer assessment is used. Generally, there are 3 types of assessments:

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Summative assessment** is an evaluation, such as a test or quiz, in which the student shows mastery of f given objectives. The results are reported as a grade or score.

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Diagnostic assessments** are known as pre- assessments, are given before the teacher beings a unit or topic, and are given to check knowledge. Learning styles, ability levels, interests can be discovered this way, enabling a teacher to craft projects to the strenght of the students. Diagonstic assessments are an important part of differentiated instruction..

<span style="color: #000000; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 110%;">**Formative assessments** occur concurrently with instruction. This type of assessment includes feedback, guidance for improvement, observation, draft review, checklists, learning logs and portfolio reviews. Formative assessment can also be done by the teacher or by a peer group.


 * 1) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Gauging Student Needs**- diagnostic assessment, such as concept maps, K-W-L charts and graphic organizers. This type of asssessment will tell the instructor about a student's learning styles, knowledge of the subject matter.
 * 2) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Encouraging Self-Direction and Collaboration**- another form of diagnostic assessment; tools used include checklists, prompts, milestones and reflections. This stage of assessment is to encourge critical thinking and attention to detail on the part of the student.
 * 3) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Monitoring Progress**- This type of assessment can be either formative or diagnostic in nature, and is designed to address misconceptions, errors and gaps in learning. This is an area where peer evalutaion may be beneficial. Notes, checklists and milestone checklists are all tools that are used for this type of evaluation.
 * 4) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Checking Understanding**- This is the "Thinking about thinking" assessment, in which students look at the process they took to complete coursework and objectives. Formative in nature, this is best exemplified as a journal, either photo, video or written, or an interview with an instructor or peers, in which a student reviews how they achieved the learning objects of a project or unit.
 * 5) <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Demonstrating Understanding** - Summative assessment in which a student takes a test, completes and presents a project, or gives a performance as a culmination of learning. Rubrics, scoing guides, checklists and reflection questions are tools that may be used for this type of assessment.

<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">**Differentiated instruction** brings other areas of consideration when assessing:
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Choice is key to the process. Choice of learning activity as well as choice in the assessment (how the student will demonstrate understanding).
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The learning tasks always consider the students' strengths/weaknesses. Visual learners will have visual cues, auditory learners will have auditory cues etc.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Groupings of students will vary, some will work better independently and others will work in various group settings.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Multiple intelligence is taken into consideration as are the students' learning and thinking styles.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Lessons are authentic to ensure that all students can make connections.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Project and problem based learning are also key in differentiated instruction and assessment.
 * <span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Opportunities for children to think for themselves is clearly evident.

Clicking on the graphics will take you to internet based assessment tools.