Learning is a journey and not a destination. Major focus of education in the country is focused on getting good grades mostly in a condition which is exam-centric and also institution-centric. To illustrate entrance examinations to elite institutes are held once a year and focused on scoring better than others where the probability of selection is less than 1%.
In a digital set-up the time/date can be a little flexible to give more leverage to the students
Digital students should be given the same research opportunities (as far as possible) as face to face students. In my classes the writing requirements are the same in both types of classes. In order to encourage participation in research by on-line students I often use a virtual academic poster competition to allow them to participate just as the face to face students do. I do this in cooperation with professors at several other universities in my discipline. That way, we can all share our student's research in the larger virtual community. It works very well.
Dear Ms. Shukla!
I am a PhD candidate from Finland - my background is in Industrial Logistics. I am interested in this topic, but it is not of my field of expertise. In so I extracted a sample of articles I found relevant in relation to your question. May I claim it is difficult for me to present any statement as there are so many field to study at universities and each subject /field might require different method to measure and manage high quality learning outcomes. I hope you see some value in my effort to present these sets of research papers. Yours sincerely, Bulcsu Szekely Lappeenranta University of Technology (LUT Group).
Just a suggestion......review the course description, and analyze what key things students would need to know when building, creating, or modifying an online course.The first rule of thumb is that any course offered online must reflect and contain the same learning as a face-to-face course. Students can be assessed in online learning environments in many ways such as reflective writing assignments, case studies, simulations, observations using checklist or other tools that are relative in the learning environment, critical thinking assignments using peer-reviewed journal research, and global learning ( researching how things are done in other countries) and then comparing.
I have been teaching online for over 14 years, created and designed online courses and find that test only give a small percentage of what students know since, the information is memorized--however, when using the above methods and modifying assignments, student are more successful. Another key for student success in online learning is to have face-to-face chats using black board collaborate, Skype, Adobe connect, or another chat feature. These can be fun learning sessions where students present information, discussion on past and upcoming learning can take place.
Digital students should be given the same research opportunities (as far as possible) as face to face students. In my classes the writing requirements are the same in both types of classes. In order to encourage participation in research by on-line students I often use a virtual academic poster competition to allow them to participate just as the face to face students do. I do this in cooperation with professors at several other universities in my discipline. That way, we can all share our student's research in the larger virtual community. It works very well.
Yes, learning is a continuous journey from "womb to tomb". At each stage of the journey, the learner has to be tested to see if knowledge has been grasped in depth or not.
An online exam is fine but a written exam "on paper" ought to be part of the assessment. Of course, it will be a bonus if the questions are diversified (e.g. multiple choice, filling blanks, matching sets, true/false, short explanations). Since they aim at grades, many students will be tempted to cheat even in the presence of attentive invigilators. Therefore, another approach has to be adopted in evaluating learning.
The best way to do that is to subject the students to oral exams. An examining committee (preferably external) of 3 scholars will test the students one by one. When each student leaves, each member will give a mark and the average is calculated at the spot. I used to do that with another colleague in practical organic chemistry. For example, the student may be asked 3 questions by each of us about, e.g. distillation and then we will ask him/her to construct a distillation set-up or to draw it on the board.
This method of oral exams was done in the past. Unfortunately, many students protested against the method & we were compelled to stop it. To be honest, the "real" decline of the quality of learning can be attributed to several factors among which are the sort of students who want easy high marks with least effort.
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