Themed Paper Presentations: Dynamic Assessment
e-Portfolio as Alternative Assessment Approach in an Open Distance e-Learning University
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Patience Kelebogile Mudau
Alternative assessment in the 21st century illustrate the importance of assessment practices that promote constructivist perception, allowing students to create their own learning as active participants through authentic assessment unlike traditional assessment. The purpose of this paper was to explore the functionality of e-portfolios as alternative assessment strategy in an Open distance e-Learning university, drawing on the case of a South African Open Distance e-learning (ODeL) university. Interviews were used to collect data for this qualitative study, were audio recorded, transcribed and analysed for themes. The findings revealed that e-portfolio use, its purpose and functionality is not employed to its full potential. Based on the findings the study recommends that an e-portfolio assessment framework on how to use e-portfolio as alternative assessment should be facilitated for the successful implementation of this alternative assessment in higher education.
Use of Ubiquitous, Web-based Evaluations of School Cultural Climates to Transform the Educational Architectures of Public Schools: A Proposed Model for Insuring Culture-fair and Safe Public Schools
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Susan M Miller, Kenneth L Miller
Despite decades of legal and other regulatory efforts to create culture-fair and safe public schools, structural problems impede progress. Cultural bias and discrimination permeate public school policies, procedures, practices, and programs. Major roadblocks to resolving these problems are: absence of a procedure for systematically evaluating school climates to determine unique sources and types of cultural bias and discrimination, and, subsequent inabilities to target interventions for particular individuals, groups, and institutional entities. Authors propose use of systematic, web-based evaluations of school cultural climates using the Survey of Cultural Attitudes and Behaviors (SCAB), which is designed to collect ongoing quantitative and qualitative data from students, teachers, administrators, and staff via a school-specific, internet link in order to identify strengths and limitations of the school’s cultural climate. At three-month intervals, researchers analyze data in order to determine specific problem areas and targets for intervention. Based upon the data trends, researchers create unique remediation plans for presentation to school boards and administrators for individuals and/or groups, with specific recommendations for modifications of school policies. Through this process of ubiquitous, web-based evaluation, school administrators, teachers, students, and staff collaboratively identify cultural dynamics that hamper student learning and safety, hold individuals and groups accountable for their actions, reduce the incidence of cultural bias and discrimination, provide empirical evidence to modify school policies, and promote the development of a culture-fair and safe institutional climate. Authors illuminate use of the proposed evaluation model by describing elements of previous research using the SCAB.
First Stage Assessment in Online Higher Education
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Jay Cohen
Assessment is a central feature of any higher education curriculum. Assessment broadens student learning, permits judgement about the standard of student work, and provides the means for certification. Yet not all assessment is, nor should be considered through the same lens. Well-designed first year assessment should facilitate first year students in the transition to higher education among other things. First-year assessment in higher education should be considered and managed discretely. With this said the distinctions between good first stage assessment, and good first stage assessment in an online environment are somewhat, but not entirely, analogous. In this way first stage assessment in an online higher education environment might be considered as – same, same but different. This paper draws on Nicol’s (2009) seminal work on first year assessment and Carless’ (2015) learning-orientated assessment, augmenting this for application in online higher education. This paper is firmly based on the literature, as well as informed by practice and is intended to provide academics and learning designers with a reference point so that the design and implementation of first year online assessment in higher education, can, as it should, influence student success.
Authentic Assessment with Robust e-Exams
Paper Presentation in a Themed Session Mathew Hillier, Andrew Fluck
The development online e-Exam technologies that focus on "authentic assessment" in Australia (Fluck & Hillier, 2016), Austria (Frankl, Schartner, & Jost, 2017), Finland via their Matriculation Examination Board (Vikberg, 2018) presents an opportunity to unlock the last bastion on pen-on-paper - the exam room - for reform to include twenty first century skills and capabilities. These technology approaches enables rich, constructed assessment tasks by providing authentic "e-tools of the trade" software applications and a secure, consistent operating system on each student's BYO laptop. The technology works alongside a learning management system or quiz module to provide an electronic workflow for assessments. The Australian implementation (Hillier, Grant & Coleman, 2018; Fluck, Pullen, & Harper, 2009, transformingexams.com) is also capable of working without a network for most (or all) of the exam session and that ensures exam continuity. In this paper we will examine the Australian "Robust e-Exams" approach that will include hands-on with a selection of authentic task examples and discussion of the practicalities associated with running e-exams in-class and in exam halls. Findings from an Australian case will be presented following live trials in 2018 of robust online exams in units (subjects) where students undertook a sequence of practice, mid term and a final examinations using the platform. In this case a Moodle quiz, additional software applications and audio files were utilised as part of the exams. Student feedback on their experience was collected using pre and post surveys covering a range of issues related to technology acceptance.
