Manage Assessment
Inform learners of the plan for assessment. Monitor student performance throughout the course and provide feedback about progress.
Continuous Assessments
Rather than relying on a single measure of success such as a test, continuous assessment provides repeated opportunities for the learner to reflect on their progress.
Involve learners in self-assessments:
- ungraded activities built into course materials
- practice activities and sample exams
- key point reviews and self-check lists
- informal communications with the instructor and peers
In addition, continuous assessment also requires the instructor to check learner understandings.
The learner frequently demonstrates and applies what they've learned through:
- completing an assignment
- participating in a discussion
- answering questions
The instructor provides:
- ongoing encouragement
- critical feedback
- suggestions for improvement.
Feedback should be timely and informative. For instance, rather than simply assigning points, the instructor might indicate that the posting "provided excellent examples" or "lacked the required citations."
Feedback and Grades
Many course management systems provide a gradebook for posting comments and student grades.
Notes for instructors:
- Some course management systems automatically calculate grades. Be sure you've set up the system to reflect your grading system.
- Some systems allow the instructor to control access to grades, check the setup.
- Keep a backup of all grades.
Consider methods for providing students with information about their performance.
- Comments in the course online gradebook
- Email message with checklist and comments
- Commenting function in word processing documents such as Microsoft Word
- Discussion function in a wiki