An Exploration Of Rubric Use In Online Course Assessment

摘要

An important element in the educational system is student assessment, as appropriate assessment strategies can illuminate numerous issues related to faculty development and student learning. The intents of assessment are to monitor student learning and faculty performance, and to promote an environment of continuous improvement in courses and programs. Assessment provides common understanding among faculty, students, and university administrators. While assessment enables faculty to articulate their expectations and learning outcomes, it provides students meaningful feedback on progress with their learning goals. For administrators, assessment provides not only documentation of productivity and effectiveness but also feedback on student retention (Perrin et al., 2001). Student assessment, if conducted properly, will enhance teaching and learning. The purpose of this paper is three-fold. First, we define and describe the concept of student assessment in an online learning environment. Second, we argue that using only traditional assessment in an online classroom is not sufficient and suggest that online instructors consider alternative assessment. Third, we carefully examine one of the alternative assessment tools called 'a rubric' that has been utilized successfully in our online courses. We explain how rubrics can be created and utilized, as well as provide some lessons learned from our past experiences.