1. Assessment Strategies for
Online Learning
Caroline Conlon, eLearning Design Coordinator
Faculty Development & Instructional Design Center

2. Session Topics
• How assessment strategies fit into the overall
Instructional design process
• Assessment categories, specifically the role of
formative and summative assessments in an
online environment
• 7 Principles of Effective Online Assessments
• Assessment tools available for use in Blackboard
and considerations for their use in an online
environment
• Academic integrity

3. Assessment and the
Instructional Design Process
• Include assessment strategy into the ID
process
• Align assessment strategy with learning
objectives or learning outcomes
• Think about assessment from learner
perspective

4. Assessment Categories
Formative Assessment Summative Assessment
Surveys Midterm / Final Exam
Journals Quizzes
Blogs Standardized Tests
Wikis Final Grades
Discussion Boards Final Presentations
Self and Peer Assessments Term Papers

5. 7 Principles of
effective online assessment
 Design learner-centered assessments that include self-
reflection
 Design and include grading rubrics for the assessment of
contributions to the discussion as well as for assignments,
projects, and collaboration
 Include collaborative assessments through public posting of
papers, along with comments from student to student
 Use Assessment techniques that fit the context and align
with learning objectives
 Design assessments that are clear, easy to understand, and
likely to work in an online environment
 Ask for and incorporate student input
(Palloff & Pratt, 2009)

6. Assessment Tools
Rubrics
Allow for objective and consistent assessment
Clarifies your expectations about assessment
Makes students accountable for their
performance
Provides a rationale for grading
If team teaching or TA is grading, provides a
framework for all

7. Assessment Tools

8. Assessment Tools
Surveys
Use Survey tool to gather aggregate responses
from students
Remind students surveys are anonymous
If desiring to share findings with students,
copy/paste results into Word to post to
Blackboard

9. Assessment Strategies
Discussion Board, Wikis, Blogs, Journals
Provide clear expectations up front (word
count, substance, use rubrics)
Provide feedback or comments along with
grade
In the Discussion Board, best to grade by
forum versus the thread

10. Assessment Tools
Online Quizzes, Tests, and Pools
Allow students opportunity to practice
Format questions in MS Word and import using
the Blackboard Quiz Generator
Add test questions to pools for easy reuse and
expansion
Check with your textbook publisher to see if they
offer question pools for your textbook
Create tests from random blocks or question pools
whenever possible

11. Assessment Tools
Assignments
Use Assignment Manager for file exchange
Attach assignment instructions and/or
template files when creating assignment
Download submitted assignments for offline
grading
Enter feedback electronically & return to
students via the assignment

12. Assessment Strategies
SafeAssign
Use SafeAssign for substantial written
assignments
Inform students in the syllabus of the
requirements to use SafeAssign
Create draft version for students to submit to
in order to self-check their work
Make originality reports viewable by students

13. Academic Integrity
Plagiarism –
Use SafeAssign
Get to know the student’s capabilities through
the use of formative assessments
Tests and Quizzes –
Randomize the order of test questions
Randomly select a percentage from test pool
If a home quiz or test, allow open book

14. Academic Integrity
“Spending large quantities of valuable
time chasing after a small percentage of
cheaters can quickly lead to diminishing
returns”
(Simonson, Smaldino, Albright & Zvacek, 2011)

15. References
Palloff, R. M., & Pratt, K. (2009). Assessing the
online learner, resources and strategies for
faculty. Jossey-Bass Inc Pub.
Simonson, M., Smaldino, S., Albright, M., &
Zvacek, S. (2011). Teaching and learning at a
distance, foundations of distance education.
Allyn & Bacon.