Linking E-Assessment to Student's Use of Online Learning Content

Introduction

This article will examine the development and implementation of two information and communications technology (ICT) e-assessment tools—a diagnostic assessment system and an intelligent content assessment marking system—for the teaching of secondary science. An e-learning management system (ELMS, see Figure 1) was used with second-year secondary students in science which provided both content and online assessment tools for teachers. By using this system, teachers had the opportunity to modify how they assessed their students by shifting the skills and knowledge being tested and also when and at which stage of the learning they are tested. The use of the ELMS had also assisted teachers to move away from the narrow confines of standardised tests with their discrete and decontextualized ‘items’ towards more complex, holistic, contextualised, and authentic forms of assessment (e.g., Pellegrino, Chudowski, & Glaser, 2001).

Figure 1.

E-learning management system (ELMS)

Using these diagnostic tools for assessment teachers could better help students gain mastery in specific content areas, in particular, the more abstract concepts in science education. The ELMS was used to collate the data from the two assessment tools and provided an additional online diagnostic profiling system (DPS). This profiling tool was then used by teachers to detect the extent and nature of each individual student’s knowledge and competence within topics of study in order to help that learner progress ahead in developing independent mastery and lifelong learning skills.

Capturing The Potential Of E-Learning And E-Assessment

In schools where traditional assessment modes prevail, teachers are often swamped with setting and marking different forms of assessment, usually aimed at preparing students for high-stake examinations. In order for them to adequately assess which difficulties confronted by students impact learning most strongly, they need effective tools to develop ways and means to collect and analyse data in class. With the help of ICT tools, teachers can locate timely information about student learning which allows them to set meaningful and measurable goals for future learning. Assessment whether online or not can be used as one of the most powerful ways of improving learning. By simply changing the assessment of the subject, teachers can in turn affect the way students engage with the subject content (Black & Wiliam, 1998). New pedagogy is also needed to effectively leverage the use of technology. E-assessment cannot simply invent new technologies which recycle current ineffective practices (QCA, 2004).

As Conole (2004, p.3) pointed out, one of the affordances of ICT is the potential for multimodal and nonlinear approaches to navigating through information. She highlights the fact that the nonlinearity of the Web (epitomised by hypertext and the use of powerful search engines) leads to the potential for different routes through, and forms of, learning. Yet many research studies have concluded that much of the current online training materials still appear to follow a linear, assembly line mode of learning. Many ‘e-learning’ packages are built on behaviourist principles of atomised experiences that need to be completed in a specified order before the individual is positively reinforced and permitted to move on—a form of electronic page-turning (Conole, 2004).

When designing online learning systems, the structure of how learning content is incorporated is vital to its success. According to Boettcher (2003), course content—the material to be learned or studied—is only one of the four key core components of the learning experience. The other three are the teaching, the learner, and the environmental components. In her research, she emphasized that online learning based on well-structured content can impact the identification, selection, and development of course content in three ways: