Abstract:

The literature on assessment in higher education, online learning, and learning design is abundant. This study provides a conceptual framework for assessment in online education. Our framework considers Bloom’s taxonomy, learning theories, metacognition and self-regulation approaches, backward design, and research related to assessment and self-assessment, including our own research.

This framework was created:
(a) for use in online geoscience courses we designed and
(b) to frame research on assessment for student success in online education.

That is to say, the framework presented here is open to development and/or change for assessing student success in online higher education courses.

The conceptual framework for assessment in online higher education courses has four dimensions that cover different assessment types under behaviorism, cognitivism, constructivism, and metacognition/self-regulation. The sample assessment types represented in the framework are: weekly quizzes and exams (behaviorist view) to address remember and understand phase in Bloom’s taxonomy; lab assignments (cognitivist view) to address apply and analyze phase in Bloom’s taxonomy; capstone projects and discussions (constructivist view) to address evaluate and create phase in Bloom’s taxonomy; and knowledge check questions (metacognitive and self-regulative view) to address retrieval practice. Quizzes and exams assess students’ remembering and understanding of facts in the course content. Lab assignments assess students’ learning of processes and procedures in the course content. Capstone projects and discussions assess students’ learning of contextual knowledge, appropriation of knowledge, and personal meaning-making in the course content. Knowledge check questions are supplementary materials for students to self-assess their learning of course content and support their success in other assessment types. All these different assessment levels are considered through backward design, which shapes the decision-making process of the course design. First, one decides on learning objectives and student outcomes. Next, one chooses appropriate assessments by considering the learning theories and approaches mentioned above. Last, one creates the assignments and activities based on the decided assessment types. This process is iterative. That is, revisions are made, if needed, on decided outcomes and objectives, chosen assessment types, and created assignments.

Since we considered only our course design process while creating this framework, we only included the assessment types we used in online geoscience courses. Therefore, the presented assessment framework opens new avenues by adapting and adopting it in designing online higher education courses and researching student success in online higher education courses. We will use the framework in ongoing course designs and research in online higher education. Further research may develop and/or change the framework for a more general assessment framework for online higher education courses.

Keywords:

Online education, learning theories, conceptual framework, assessment, STEM, learning design.