Assessment
Some of the areas of interest to SCROLLA Assessment were:
- Item Response Theory
- Item Response Theory allows us to measure the difficulty of a particular question (item) and can be used to classify the difficulty level of groups of questions.
- Item Banking
- Through careful classification and description, banks of questions can be assembled and maintained, facilitating sharing and reuse.
- Multimedia in Assessment
- Assessment isn't just about text and graphics: by incorporating moving images, sounds and animations, a wider range of skills can be assessed.
- Simulation and Assessment
- By linking assessments and simulations together, we can begin to assess a student's performance more directly.
- Accessibility
- Ensuring that the assessments you provide are accessible to all is an important consideration when planning online assessment (this is especially the case when multimedia elements are utilised).
- Adaptive Testing
- Providing students with different learning materials depending on how they perform in assessments provides a powerful means of individualising the learning experience.
- Skills Testing
- Skills Testing incorporates task based testing of competency in software applications such as MS Word, where a student's performance of a task in situ can be measured.
- Summative Assessment
- Although online assessment is now widely used for formative assessment, there are still practical and attitudinal barriers to using it for summative assessment.
- Automated Marking
- Whilst it is easy to mark objective type questions automatically, it is much harder to mark free response items.
Why On-Line Assessment?
There are many terms used casually in discussions on assessment where computers have some role to play. Here are some definitions which may clarify the correct use of three of the most common phrases.
- Computer-Assisted Assessment
- Computer-Assisted Assessment is defined as a semi-automated process such as the use of electronic portfolio/candidate tracking systems or the use of online portals to allow submission of short answer or essay responses. The technology is used to facilitate the process but the assessment is not automated.
- Computer-Based Assessment
- Computer-Based Assessment is defined as an entirely automated process where the assessment is delivered using a computer.
- On-Line Assessment
- On-Line assessment is defined as an entirely automated process of delivering and marking assessments using web or intranet resources.
