Blended Assessments of Learning- Chapter 3.

This week’s reading discussed assessment in the blended learning environment.  One point that was made in the beginning of the reading was that in addition to addressing the learning standards, you also need to “find a real life application to better your students’ understanding of the materials covered. If this is not done, much of your time, and your students’ time, has been greatly wasted”  (para. 2).  My plan is to create quick video introduction for each module so I will have to keep the reading statement in mind when completing this task.  I feel that personally making this connection will help the engage and motivate the students more so.  In fact, I could even recruit volunteers to make their own “video” as a project based assessment for subsequent implementation.   This type of assessment would help avoid the same old methods utilized in the traditional setting such as multiple choice methods, and to provide a balance of online and face 2 face testing methods.  According to the readings, “Faculty who evaluate their students’ performances by using a mixture of tests – some online, some offline – have experienced more fruitful outcomes” (para. 4).

The reading also addressed how to create online versions of formal and informal assessments.  Although I will be implementing quizzes and tests from the online version of the course textbook, I found the information helpful if I run into a situation where I have to create assessments from scratch.  I was especially interested in the Performance task section which discussed authentic assessment.  Each unit in the course I am designing will have a type of real life project relating to the concepts the students are currently learning.  The information from this section will help create such assessments.

The final sections discussed preparing the assessments/activities for the online version.  Detailed instructions need to be tailored to the level of student the course is designed for in addition to providing grading rubrics for each.  One item I did not take into consideration was the practice test to use as an informal guide to see if students are prepared for the actual assessments.  This will be something to include in my final course plan.