This presentation focuses the effectiveness of using formative assessments in online classrooms. With the recent focus on accountability in online higher education, the need to find and implement effective assessment practices is a priority. This presentation will be a great opportunity to learn about some exciting research in this area.
With the recent focus on accountability in higher education and online colleges, the need to find and implement effective assessment and instructional practices is a priority. Assessments for learning can provide you with valuable information that can be used to adjust your instruction and meet the needs of every student. Since there is a need to increase the understanding of how to integrate assessments for learning in online classrooms, instructors are currently missing opportunities to increase student achievement (Baleni, 2015, Gikandi, Morrow, & Davis 2011; William, 2011).
Join Jillian Sciacca for an exciting presentation on a research project that is looking into the effectiveness of embedding formative assessments into every week of online college classrooms. In this interactive session, you will have opportunities to experience the power of assessments for learning through a game of Dare and Share foam frisbee. In this session, Jill will review the problem to be resolved through the study, the research questions, the methodology, and the potential impact this study may have on higher education, online learning models. At the conclusion of this presentation, you will have a good idea of why this research is important to the future success of online college students and strategies to implement this technique in your own online classrooms. This session is a must for anyone wanting to learn about current research that has the potential to impact assessment practices in higher education and also a desire to take your instruction to the next level.
In this session, I will review the problem which my team is attempting to resolve, which is that online college instructors do not typically recognize the benefits of and use assessments for learning in their classrooms and this has a negative impact on student learning (Baleni, 2015, Gikandi, Morrow, & Davis 2011; William, 2011). According to Gikandi, Morrow, & Davis (2011) there is a need to shift the assessment culture that focuses on assessment of learning and focus more on assessments for learning. Additionally Baleni (2015) emphasized the importance of recognizing the impact embedding formative assessments (assessments for learning) into your online classroom can have on increasing student learning. The benefits of using formative assessments in education has been documented, however there is a need to show how to effectively integrate assessment for learning into online classrooms. According to William (2011) there is a strong body of work that suggests that integrating assessment into instruction has the power to increase student engagement and improve student learning. However, he notes that more research needs to be done to show how to effectively integrate assessment for learning into classrooms. Assessments for learning provides instructors with valuable information that can be used to adjust their instruction and meet the needs of their students. Since there is a need to increase the understanding of how to integrate assessments for learning in online classrooms, instructors are missing opportunities to meet the needs of their students (Baleni; Gikandi, Morrow, & Davis; William). According to Gikandi, Morrow, & Davis (2011), formative assessments are an important teaching strategy that needs more wide spread implementation and further research. In William’s (2011) paper on assessments for learning, he noted that recently there has been an increasing tendency to seek to understand forms of assessment that are used to guide the learning towards the intended goal. Additionally, Baleni (2015) noted that “with accountability in mind and the explosion of online learning environments the need for best assessment practices in online learning environments surges” (p. 229). The idea that assessments can be used to guide instruction is a relatively new idea (William, 2011). During the early 90’s there were some studies done on how assessments could impact learning, however the term “formative assessment” was not clearly defined “and, as a result, research studies on one aspect of the use of assessment to improve instruction were used as evidence supporting the efficacy of quite unrelated aspects” (p. 13). As a result, in literature very little attention has been given to exactly how to integrate formative assessments into online classrooms with the goal of using the assessment results to guide instruction and support student learning. This study will provide evidence to the higher education community, on the benefits of using this highly effective teaching strategy in online college classrooms.
This study is looking into the following research question. Will students score higher on the summative assessment, than they did on the formative assessments when extra individualized support is provided to help students’ master objectives that they were struggling with according to the results of their formative assessments?
The study will focus on courses within the first year sequence at an online college. The objectives in each week of the courses will be used to create formative assessments that will be given to students at the beginning of each week. The same questions used in the formative assessments will be compiled to create our summative assessment that will be used in the final week of each course. The results of each student’s formative assessments and summative assessment will be used to calculate the dependent variable- y. In our experimental groups, the independent variable-x will be the use of formative assessments to inform our instruction and provide our students with extra individualized instruction to help them master the course objectives. In the control groups, the formative assessments will be used to measure the student’s mastery of the course objectives, but the results will not be used to inform instruction and provide these students with extra guidance. The students in the control group will also take the summative assessment so we can measure their mastery of the course objectives and growth throughout the course without providing them with extra support based on their formative assessment results.
In order to analyze the data, we will first graph the data using a scatter plot. Next, we will calculate the correlation coefficient by using a Pearson correlation coefficient equation. Finally, we will use a linear regression measure to make conclusions about the relationship between the two variables and how the use of formative assessments can positively impact a student’s mastery of course objectives. We will be using SPSS to organize and analyze our data.
This presentation will be an exciting and engaging opportunity to learn about this research and the possible implications on student achievement and assessment practices in higher education that the results may provide. At the conclusion of this presentation, we will play a final game of Dare and Share frisbee, which should provide a great example of the benefits of assessments for learning. You will leave this session with a better understanding of the potiental benefits of formative assessements that may be highlighted through this reserach project and some ideas to help you implement formative assessments into your own online classrooms.
References
Baleni, Z. G. (2015). Online formative assessment in higher education: Its pros and
cons. Journal of e-learning, 13(4), 228-236.
Gikandi, J.W., Morrow, D., & Davis, N.E. (2011, June). Online formative assessment in higher
education: A review of the literature.Computers & Education, 57, 2333-2351.
William, D. (2011, April). What is assessment for learning?. Studies in Educational
Evaluation, 37, 3-14.