The way we see student assessment has drastically changed over the years. Nowadays, teachers choose assessment methods that vary from old-fashioned paper and pencil tests to full-scale online examinations. Where are you on this spectrum?
Whereas you may regard traditional learning as your safer option and balk at moving to virtual classroom platforms, online assessments are definitely worth a try. It's a good idea to expand your teaching toolbox with online quizzes and surveys and leverage them for better evaluation and student engagement. Let's see how that can be done.
1. Knowledge checks
When it comes to eLearning, online quizzes are the most common way to assess knowledge. And no wonder: the variety of question types in quizzes allows for testing students' knowledge at different levels. They can range from mainstream multiple-choice, multiple response, or true/false questions to interactive and more engaging drag-and-drop or hotspot exercises.
Now, let's cover the ways you can use online knowledge checks in your teaching practice.
2. diagnostics
Diagnostic quizzes can include the topics of the upcoming lessons and can be helpful for testing basic knowledge. Use online diagnostic quizzes to understand what you should focus on and how you're going to teach in the next module. Come up with a diagnostic quiz at the start of a new phase of education, such as when students begin studying a new unit.
3. formative assessments
Online quizzes can be great for the ongoing evaluation and monitoring of how students are learning the new material. You can include an online quiz in an online lesson or place several of them throughout the online course. Some instructors use formative online quizzes to enhance the classroom experience.
4. interim assessments
Online quizzes can be used for interim evaluation, otherwise known as benchmark assessment. Conduct them after you teach a specific unit to see if your students' progress matches current grade standards.
5. Summative assessments
You can make online exams cheat-proof with question shuffling, limited view time, limited answer attempts, and other settings that test makers for teachers offer. Use an online quiz as a checkpoint at the end of the year or at the end of an online course to assess what students have learned.
6. exam prep tests
Online quizzes can be very helpful for exam preparation, especially when it comes to self-learning. Students can test themselves online anytime, brush up on certain topics and questions, and review the material to do well on the exam. You can add encouraging or explanatory automated feedback for each response that will tell learners why they are incorrect or will add some extra information if they got everything right.
If you’re wondering how to create effective knowledge checks, download this free guide, "How to assess students online." It provides clear guidance to building quizzes, surveys, and other types of assessments with less effort.
7. new student assessment
Whenever a new student transfers to your school, you can assess their knowledge using online placement tests. Online quizzes will help you determine the level of knowledge of incoming students and which classes will suit them best. It's great if your school has resources like these accessible online because this makes the admission processes more streamlined and convenient for everyone.
8. student engagement evaluation
Online quizzes can be successfully used for assessing student engagement levels. You can build quizzes according to the methodologies you prefer and see whether your students are passionate about subjects and what you should focus on in your teaching strategy to engage them more.
9. student feedback surveys
If an online quiz is non-graded, it can become a survey. Taking student classroom surveys online can be more convenient because it's easy for you to share them, as well as collect and process the results. Also, many test makers offer Likert scale question templates that will be very suitable for measuring student satisfaction with the learning process.
10. teacher evaluation surveys
Online surveys can be helpful in collecting feedback on your instruction. You can conduct them in order to be more informed of your students’ needs, gather valuable insights, and put them into practice to improve your teaching style.
11. simulations
Dialogue simulations replicate the different outcomes of the situation depending on the choices made. They are interactive role-plays that put the student in a simulated environment that prompts them to choose between different reactions and behaviors.
It is still less common to think of dialogue simulations as ways to assess knowledge. But they can be tremendously useful in teaching, especially when you can't fit role-playing activities into the classroom schedule.
Teachers can use dialogue simulations to assess students' interpersonal skills, help learners navigate life choices or be more confident in everyday situations, and practice during language lessons. Learners can be accompanied by realistic or hand-drawn characters and interact with them in a café, bank, hospital, or whatever setting is required.
putting it into practice
To create various types of online assessments, you can use a special kind of teaching software called authoring tools. One of the most user-friendly tools for teachers is iSpring QuizMaker. It's PowerPoint based and enables you to make engaging online courses and quizzes in record time, even if you’re new to eLearning.
Make students fall in love with the topic by creating a beautiful course with 14 types of interactive quizzes that will boost knowledge retention. iSpring QuizMaker is compatible with Moodle, Blackboard, and other LMSs that schools use and has a good chance of becoming the teacher's pet!
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*This is a sponsored blog post from iSpring Solutions. Thank you to iSpring Solutions for their support!
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