What Is The Best Assessment For eLearners And Why?

I would have to say it depends on subject content and what performance objectives you are attempting to assess.  Since my area of teaching relates primarily to a K-12 eLearning curriculum, it's more likely that I will be concerned with finding out just how much each of my students have learned about a specific topic of study. Therefore a formative assessment that emphasizes criterion-referenced interpretations, that is, comparing an eLearner's performance to a well-defined domain can indicate an accurate assessment of what my eLearners can and cannot do; do know or does not know. It also means that no matter how an assessment is carried out it must ask questions specific to the content domain that you, as a teacher, want your  eLearners to be learning. It is essential to base formative assessments on lesson objectives and to use to monitor progress to validate  instruction as well as dictate whether or not instruction needs to be modified. Most often these type of assessments are performance or behavior driven not just paper and pencil multiple choice tests.

Specific questions asked within the framework of a formative assessment can be asked and answered by having eLearners participate in a game activity or in creating a game activity, project presentation, video screencast, short essay or even taking a short online T/F quiz. Utilizing audio and video technology is a great way to implement a formative assessment and for interpreting criterion-referenced questions/answers that establish what an eLearner can and cannot do.    

For example, if the topic being taught were knights in the Middle Ages, an eAssessment might be in the form of audio/visual project where an eLearner displays a picture of armor and labels it and describes it by creating a podcast to deliver that information. Or, an eLearner could be asked to write a blog from the point of view of a knight while in battle or perhaps role play an interview with a knight. These three examples demonstrate a performance driven formative assessment.

Another example may invlove having eLearners order a list of spelling words according to their difficulty or solve algebraic equations involving two unknowns. (Oosterhof, Conrad, Ely, 2008, pp. 74-75)  

References

Authorstream (2005). Assessing students online. Retrieved from
      http://www.authorstream.com/Presentation/Berenger-33823-Assessing-Students-Online-Why-Assess-Uses-Assessment-Tools-Modes-Knowledge-Based-as-Entertainment-ppt-powerpoint/.
Classroom Assessments. (n.d.). Formative and summative assessments. Retrieved from
    http://fcit.usf.edu/assessment/basic/basica.html.

      

What Is The Difference Between Training And Education As It Pertains To Assessment?

When a person receives training it is usually for a very specific task. Assessments seek to measure  proficiency and consistency with the performance of the task. Formative assessments are used more often as well as a set of criteria set for measuring the performance outcome of the training. It is also more likely to be a hands-on type assessment or for testing motor skills of some kind. Some examples include driving a car, becoming a bartender, or even playing a musical instrument.  

When a person receives an education the content to be learned is usually more broad and provides a person with a framework of knowledge that will also help them solve unanticipated problems later in life. It is the foundation for further learning. Both summative and formative assessments are used, however, with attention given to only a sampling of the content learned because the areas of knowledge cover are so much broader. Example of a person with an education would be teachers, psychologists and scientists. 

Although the two are quite different more often than not they are both involved in learning a certain concept or skill. Learning to read might be one example. Learning to decode words requires training and repetition in order to become proficient. However, once those strategies are known and applied consistently, they lay the foundation for more education and learning.  

What Is The Difference Between Learning Outcomes And Performance Objectives? What Are Their Roles In Assessment?

The difference in a nutshell...

Learning Outcomes = Knowing and Doing Something  

&  

    Performance Objectives = Doing the Knowing in a 

way that can be observed or measured

The words knowing and doing are very general terms. In the following paragraphs I will attempt to describe each one further and give more depth to their meaning in this particular context.

First of all, I believe the term 'learning outcomes' might be better understood when switching the two words around. So, therefore, what is the outcome of the learning supposed to be? Or, more specifically, what do I expect my eLearners to know and be able to do after the content is presented and practiced during the lesson. Beginning with the end you have in mind usually helps and there are basically three categories of learning outcomes that I will describe next.

1. Declarative knowledge is when you express or recall, usually verbally, what you have learned such as definitions, factual information, explanations and procedures.  
2. Procedural knowledge is usually taking declarative knowledge one step further in that it involves doing something with the knowledge learned such as applying rules, making discriminations or analyzing a concept. 
3. Problem solving necessitates the use of taking existing declarative knowledge and/or procedural knowledge and using that knowledge in solving a new existing problem.  

A Learning Outcome = expressing, recalling, applying, discriminating or analyzing the something learned based on a situation. 

Now for the Performance Objectives. When you 'perform' you are showing that you can do something learned in an observable way. Therefore, if the learning outcome is being able to apply the rules of Spanish pronunciation to a group of Spanish words relating to weather,  how can that be "observed" is the performance objective. An example of a performance objective would be: By the end of the lesson the eLearner will be able to orally read, with 90% accuracy, a provided list of Spanish words related to the weather by creating an audio podcast. Performance objectives can also include a specific situation or other special conditions that can help clarify an objective. For example, as a special condition, I added that the eStudent would have to have 90% accuracy to pass the assessment. 

So, what roles do learning outcomes and performance objectives play in assessment? 

Actually, whether or not eLearners meet the learning outcomes and are able to execute the performance objectives effectively is the assessment. In other words, not only do they play a role in assessment, but rather, it can be the assessment. Learning outcomes and performance objectives are usually conceptualized and developed in the initial planning stages of a lesson and then referred to often throughout the lesson in order to continually determine or measure whether or not eLearners are meeting their learning outcomes and performance objectives successfully. It could be said that this procedure takes the learning process full circle. That is, the learning outcomes and performance objectives are created. The eLearner then participates in a learning activity and then the learning outcomes and performance objectives are assessed and measured.