6.3 Reflection

This module has explored the use of technology tools for both formative and summative assessment. As you think about how you will implement formative and summative assessments in the online and blended environments, what are some of the factors you need to consider?

For both formative and summative assessments in an online or blended environment, I think it’s important for teachers to be aware of some factors.  First would be the collaborative possibility.  Students need to be exposed to collaborative activities meaningfully, and the assessment tools need to have the function to allow students to fully collaborate online as if they would in a face-to-face classroom.  While there are a lot of web 2.0 tools available online, not all of them allow collaboration, or if they do it may not be user-friendly.  It is the instructor’s job, therefore, to find a tool that is effective and easy to use, while achieving the instructional goal.

Another factor that an instructor has to think about is the integrity of the assessment.  While not prevalent for adult students, teachers still need to be aware of academic dishonesty possibilities.  Tools such as NoodleBib can help teachers and students to keep track of their resources and ensure proper citations, while TurnItIn.com can assist instructors to check student works against plagiarism.

Lastly, assessments would serve no purpose if the teachers cannot use the data to enhance and improve their lessons.  When assigning an assessment, instructors need to be aware of how they would grade and collect the data, and how they can track students’ progress.  Tools such as Evernote can be a good tool for ePortfolio creation, while other online quiz making tools can be good for class assessment.