LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Assessment and Evaluation in Your Online Course: Online course syllabus

Syllabus for the online class, Assessment and Evaluation in Your Online Course, which provides a collection of resources and exercises that define the unique assessment process of online courses.

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Welcome! Over the next four weeks, we will be together online, learning and growing. My goal is to facilitate your learning and to help you succeed in reaching your goals. I look forward our working together as you experience online collaborative learning.

Course description

The purpose of this four-week course is to take a close look at assessment options, look at how assessment reflects teaching practices, and devise authentic assessment tools. During this course, you and your peers will engage in discussions and peer review that focus on creating quality online assessment activities and assessment tools. You will look at how assessment and evaluation is integrated into the process of teaching and apply that knowledge by developing an assessment plan and a variety of assessment activities and tools. Learning to plan and develop effective assessments and assessment tools will increase your knowledge of your learners and keep you informed of changes you can make to your course to improve the understanding and achievement of your learners. You will have an opportunity to use formative evaluation to test and obtain feedback from your peers and potential learners. You will also look at a variety of web 2.0 tools available you might use.

Prerequisites

You must successfully complete the following courses before enrolling in this course:

Course goals

  • Understand what assessment is and how it can be used to provide information and feedback.
  • Understand how assessment drives learning objectives and how to create effective learning objectives.
  • Demonstrate how goals, objectives, and assessment tools align in your online course.
  • Explore how different types of assessments can be used.
  • Develop an assessment plan.
  • Design a variety of online assessments activities and tools to achieve learning outcomes.
  • Understand the difference between summative and formative evaluation.
  • Demonstrate how to use different types of formative evaluation.
  • Develop and test a formative evaluation tool to receive constructive student feedback.
  • Engage in discussion and collaboration to provide feedback on assessment topics.
  • Engage in peer review of assessment products produced.
  • Explore web 2.0 tools for assessment.

Required material

All materials are included in the course.

Special technical requirements

  • Microsoft Word
  • Internet access (Broadband is recommended)
  • Basic computer skills

Course requirements

This is a four-week course. Each week you will be required to complete lessons and assignments. All assignments are listed in the Weekly Overview along with due dates. You are expected to complete all assignments on time and participate in all class discussions. You are expected to check into the online course at least two to three days a week to see new announcements, check messages and view discussion postings.

Online classroom setup

Announcements

Each time you log into the class, you will automatically see the Announcement Board. Announcements are posted frequently, so check often. You may need to scroll down the page to see all the announcements on the Announcement board.

Course information

Contains the syllabus, contact information, and other general information about course.

Lessons

Contains the course content materials.

Readings

Readings for all Lessons and Assignments.

Activities you will be expected to complete and post.

Postings and wikis

This is where discussions take place and classroom postings are made. This area has read-and-write access for everyone.

Rubrics

Located at the bottom of each weekly section.

Email

Used to communicate privately with others in the course.

Classroom procedures and policies

Attendance and participation

Log in at least three times per week. With each new week, a new set of tasks is assigned, each building on the previous week. You must be in attendance for all the weeks, complete all the lessons, and meet the required postings each week.

Late assignments

  • All discussion postings must be made on time.
  • All peer review and feedback must be posted on time.
  • Late assignment postings may be excused if they do not impact others in the class. You must notify me that you are having difficulty completing them on time, and you may be granted an extension in writing.

Postings

Quantity and quality are both important considerations when it comes to participation. Quantity is discussed above. Quality means adding something of substance to the discussion - your perspectives and ideas, examples from your work or life experience, questions, etc. A message that says simply, I agree, for example, would not constitute participation since it does not add anything of substance to the discussion. You will find it much easier to keep up with an online class and of greater value to you, if you are logging in often.

Evaluation

All assignments will be graded as complete or incomplete. Most assessments will be based on rubrics or successful completion according to the guidelines provided.
Professional development offerings through LEARN NC do not carry graduate credit and grades are not issued. Participants are awarded Continuing Education Units (CEUs) based on successful completion of the course. The course instructor determines to what extent participants have completed all required course activities and have participated in the learning community.

Feedback

Each week, I will provide feedback on participation and assignments/lessons within three to five days of the end of the week. Feedback will be communicated privately through the course email. Notification of feedback will appear as an announcement on the Announcement Board. If you do not receive your feedback, please contact me right away. Completion of assignments will also be posted in the grade book or sent to you via the course email.

Course completion

Requirements for earning 2 CEU’s:

  • Weekly attendance
  • Completion of all assignments/lessons
  • Participation in peer review and discussions

Note: Exceptions may be made in emergency cases if notification is given. Partial credit may be given.

Confidentiality and proprietary information

You are encouraged to share your personal and professional experiences as a means to integrate the knowledge through reflecting on its application. However, it is important to note that we all are bound by confidentiality in this class. In order to assure that we can have a free and open discussion in which you may elect to discuss your work and personal experiences as they apply to the course material, I expect each person to respect the confidentiality of what your classmates are willing to share.

Netiquette guidelines

The word netiquette refers to rules of conduct for the online environment. The rules are very similar to face-to-face rules of etiquette.

  • Think before you post a message. Be sure it is correct, sensitive, and respectful. If you are irritated or angry, hold off, save your reply to a draft folder, and reread and possibly edit it later.
  • Avoid the use of profanity and slang in the classroom.
  • Be careful about the tone of your messages. Tone is conveyed not only by the words you use, but also by the use of exclamation points, all capital letters, and emoticons (symbols for smiles J, frowns L, etc.).
  • Stay on the topic. If you want to discuss something personal or off the topic, take your discussion to the chat room newsgroup.
  • Use subject lines that reflect the topic.