Chapter 4 - Assessment
Angelo, Thomas A. and K. Patricia Cross (1993) Classroom Assessment Techniques:AHandbook for Faculty, San Francisco CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers, second edition. This is the classic text on classroom assessment techniques and contains many suggestions for gathering feedback on teaching and student learning.
Bostock, Stephen (2000) Student Peer Assessment. Available at www.keele.ac.uk/depts/aa/landt/lt/docs/bostock_peer_assessment.htm. Bostock suggests that peer review can increase the amounts of feedback that students can derive from their work. An important role for self and peer assessment is providing additional feedback from peers while allowing teachers to assess individual students less, but better. Before teachers start to celebrate and assign multiple peer assessment assignments, however, Bostock brings us all back down to earth. As with most teaching innovations, peer assessment requires more up-front preparation than the status quo. Even worse, the author found in his research that no tutor time was saved on summative marking because student marks were not used, being too unreliable.
Clark, Ruth Colvin and Richard E. Mayer (2008) E-Learning and the Science of Instruction: Proven Guidelines for Consumers and Designers of Multimedia Learning, San Francisco: Pfeiffer, second edition. Making wide use of empirical research, Clark and Mayer focus on the design of lessons in the online classroom. A little too long and heavy on the theory for my liking, but definitely informative.
Conrad, Rita-Marie and J. Ana Donaldson (2004) Engaging the Online Learner: Activities and Resources for Creative Instruction, San Francisco CA: Jossey-Bass Publishers. This book describes many activities that can be used in the online classroom; most are not connected with the study of history but can be adapted to the online history class.
Dawley, Lisa (2007) The Tools for Successful Online Teaching, Hershey PA: Information Science Publishing. Lisa Dawley does an excellent job in describing the strengths and weaknesses of online tools commonly found in a CMS and she offers some useful ideas for assignments.
Grant, Lyndsay (2006) Using Wikis in Schools: a Case Study, Futurelab Online. Available at www.futurelab.org.uk/resources/documents/discussion_papers/Wikis_in_Schools.pdf. This article examines the use of wikis in collaborative learning. In a case study that involved the use of wikis in a UK secondary school, Grant clearly suggests that many students wanted to contribute as individuals in group projects and were often frustrated by their collaborators.
Griswold, Robyn Hallowell and Audrey Green Rogers (1995) Cooperative Learning Basics: Strategies and Lessons for US History Teachers, Amawalk NY: Golden Owl. This is a practical book that is useful for all history teachers. Many of the ideas could be adapted to the online environment.
Lorenzo, George and John Ittelson (2005) An Overview of E-Portfolios. Available at http://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ELI3001.pdf. This paper provides an excellent introduction to e-portfolios and includes some examples.
Kagan, Spencer (1989) Cooperative Learning Resources for Teachers, San Juan Capistrano CA: Resources for Teachers. Spencer™s books and workshops on cooperative learning are extremely useful for all instructors.
Kelly, Mills (2006) Wikipedia in the Classroom, Edwired. Available at http://edwired.org/p=124. This is a blog entry in which Mills Kelly of the Center for History and New Media at George Mason University outlines an assignment in his history class that requires students to write an entry in Wikipedia.
Manning, Susan (2004) Feedback: The Flip Side of Assessment. Available at www.ion.uillinois.edu/institutes/fsi/2004/Presentations/Manning/Feedback_files/frame.html. A presentation that offers useful advice on assessment.
Mason, Robin and Frank Rennie, (2008) E-Learning and Social Networking Handbook: Resources for Higher Education Routledge, New York and London. This book provides some excellent guidance on using Web 2.0 tools in the classroom and includes some nice examples of how instructors are using the tools in different disciplines. Sometimes the book focuses too much on research literature and includes educational and technological jargon but is a useful reference guide to Web 2.0 tools.
McNulty, Kevin (February 2002) Fostering the Student-Centered Classroom Online, Technological Horizons In Education Journal. As McNulty makes abundantly clear, the student-centered classroom is in vogue. McNulty assigns electronic portfolios that are viewed and critiqued by those with access to his website. The article suggests that public display of student work has many pros but few cons. Students will gather ideas and feedback from multiple sources rather than the single teacher, peer pressure will produce more motivated students and better work, and a greater sense of online community will be established.
Myers, Chet and Thomas B. Jones (1993) Promoting Active Learning: Strategies for the College Classroom, San Francisco CA: Jossey Bass Publishers. Discusses the benefits of cooperative learning and offers some practical advice for the college teacher. Many of the ideas could be adapted to the online environment.
Palloff, Rena M. and Keith Pratt (2009) Assessing the Online Learner, Resources and Strategies for Faculty. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers. Two of the leading lights in online learning, offer a number of excellent suggestions for assessing the online student.
Pitt, Tina Joy and Anne Clark (2006) Creating Powerful Online Courses Using Multiple Instructional Strategies. Available at www.emoderators.com/moderators/pitt.html. Pitt and Clark suggest that peer evaluation and assessment should be part of the learner centered classroom.
Rocklin, Tom (no date) Virtual Companion to Computers and Testing. Available at www.ntlf.com/html/sf/vc85.htm. This lists a number of criteria for choosing computer-based assessment tools.
Strategies for Providing Feedback in Online Classes (2007). Available at http://illinois.online.uillinois.edu/resources/tutorials/pedagogy/feedback.asp. Strategies for Providing Feedback in Online Classes from the Illinois Network suggests that graded assignments should be returned to students™ personal mailboxes within 48 hours. The article further suggests that instructors should provide private, weekly updates to each participant on their grade status that would include a short message praising the student and a general overall course evaluation up to that point.
Richardson, Will, Blogs, Wikis, Podcasts, and Other Powerful Web Tools for Classrooms (2006) Corwin Press, California. A great introduction to using Web 2.0 technology in the classroom.
Trinkle, Dennis A. and Scott A. Merriman (eds) (2001) History.edu: Essays on Teaching with Technology, New York: M. E. Sharpe. The authors in this collection examine the many uses of the World Wide Web in teaching and researching history. The book says little about online classes specifically but contains some good ideas about teaching with the Internet.
Wangsatorntanakhun, Jo Anne (2007) Designing Performance Assessments: Challenges for the Three-Story Intellect. Available at www.geocities.com/athens/parthenon/8658/ Synchronous tools can be used to provide performance assessment, which is a dynamic process calling for students to be active participants, who are learning even while they are being assessed. The advantages of using synchronous tools over other forms of feedback are the instant responses and the ability to clarify and elaborate in real time.
Watkins, Ryan (2005) 75 e-Learning Activities: Making Online Learning Interactive, San Francisco CA: Pfeiffer. This book describes some excellent activities that can be incorporated into the online environment.
Wiggins, Grant (2004) Assessment as Feedback. Available at www.newhorizons.org/strategies/assess/wiggins.htm. Feedback is information about how we did in light of some goal, Grant Wiggins tells us in his article. Formative assessment takes place during learning and is normally not graded while summative assessment takes place at the end of a unit and is based on a grade.
Williams, Jeremy B. and Joanne Jacobs (2004) Exploring the Use of Blogs as Learning Spaces in the Higher Education Sector, Australasian Journal of Educational Technology 20: 232"47. Drawing on data from students in an MBA program at the Brisbane Graduate School of Business, Williams and Jacobs found that blogs provided an effective tool for teaching and learning. The authors suggest that blogs can engage students in collaborative activity, knowledge sharing, reflection, and debate.
Zariski, A. (February 1996) Student Peer Assessment in Tertiary Education: Promise, Perils and Practice in J. Abbott and L. Willcoxson (eds) Teaching and Learning Within and Across Disciplines, proceedings of the 5th Annual Teaching Learning Forum, Murdoch University, Perth: Murdoch University: 189"200. Available at http://lsn.curtin.edu.au/tlf/tlf1996/zariski.html. In a well-balanced essay, Archie Zariski helps us understand the drawbacks to peer assessment. The author suggests that significant guidance is needed to incorporate peer assessment into teaching practices. Zariski noted that: Several commentators have remarked on the hostility which students show towards peer assessment in their university courses. Some student comments included: the teachers know best, we are here to be taught not to teach, and I am worried about my peers giving me a bad mark. The author believes that significant effort is needed to incorporate peer assessment into teaching practices. Students need to be told what points to look for when assessing other people™s work because many studies doubt that students are able to give each other valuable feedback.