Online Assessment

Hey all. It’s been a super busy week as I get ready for Comps next Saturday. Online assessment is a great tool for my class. I have played with OARS at our site and I like the ability to create a test and have my students take it online. It is nice because the district sets up the accounts so the teacher only has to print the usernames and passwords for the students. The students like the online format but I discovered that they still wanted scratch paper for anything doing relating to math. Of course then you have the issue that they do not have a pencil for the class. Leah brought up the issue of Standards in her blog and that is an issue for the core classes. I am “lucky” because I do not have State standards. I use the NETS which gives me some lee way. I have created OARS tests relating to the Language Arts Standards regarding technology.


I enjoyed reading the blogs on Study on the Beach this week. There were many great ideas. I liked the discussion on security but would probably avoid the webcam  Thank you for your responses to CSTs Online and rubrics. I have been working on my annotated bibliography and have been looking at several articles focusing on assessment in the classrooms. We are going off for 3 weeks and then will be getting ready for CSTs. It is always frustrating watching the students take the tests and know it really won’t affect the rest of their year so they shut down for the rest of the year. I like the idea of giving it right before the end of the year and getting the results back quickly.

Response on Assessment and evaluation From Study on the Beach:
What are you experiences with assessment and/or evaluation and/or grading in eLearning?


Face to Face- My class as it stands right now is a Middle School Elective. Students come in for a trimester to take a computer elective. Students are expected to complete projects independently by reading the instructions on web pages created for the projects. As they go through the ten day project, they have assignments that are due. On day 10, they prepare for grading, they open the rubric created in MS Excel which has them graded on days attended and assignments done. After we grade it, I record their scores. For other assignments for Sixth Grade, I create rubrics for the assignments that tell them what is expected and give them points based on completion.

OARS- Our district is currently using OARS for testing. Teachers are able to create multiple choice tests and print out scan sheets for the students to bubble in the answers. The scan sheets are scanned and uploaded to OARS where teachers can pull the data to class results. This format is used for common assessments and district tests. OARS also has an online component that allows a teacher to create a test and have the students take it online with a user name and password. Teachers are able to control when the test is available and the duration of the test. The teacher is also able to set up how many attempts the student can have. I have used this in my class where I give the students the user name and password and they complete the test during class. They logged in and completed the test. When the classes were done, I was able to print out the results and place them in the grade book. It worked pretty well. My next step would be to assign it and have them take the test when they have a free moment at home, library or class. Cheating can become a concern but at this point I have created basic skills tests.

Teachers are also able to create their own answer sheets for a test that they have generated. This is harder online because you would need to have the tests on a web page for the students to view and mark their answers. It would work better if they had the paper scan sheet in front of them to mark the answers and then maybe bubble in the answers online. It is not efficient but that is the only way I can see it being done now.

Moodle- Last term I started playing with Moodle. I had the students create an account and let them into the class. They were able to view assignments and post work. I tried several ways of grading and evaluating work. Moodle allows you to create online tests for the class. I have used Hot Potato to create web based quizzes for class and you are supposed to be able to upload the tests for students to take and grades would be reported into Moodle gradebook. I didn’t work for me last time but this is a great tool. I plan to try again.

I created a rubric for a power point project that the students completed and uploaded. The students were able to view the rubric and grade each other’s project based on a pull down menu on the Google Form. I saw the results on a spreadsheet and compared them as I graded the uploaded power point that could be viewed through Moodle. As I graded the projects, I was able to post the grade and comments to Moodle for the students to view. It would also transfer the grade to Moodle’s grade book. I did not like the Moodle grade book so I would have to transfer the scores to my grade book.

How will you address these issues in your courses?

As I think about how I would grade students using e-learning classes, I would focus on the tools available using Moodle. The program is web based and the software is all internal so you do not have to struggle with software issues. If I had a student turn in work, I would either have them use Microsoft Office or some open source software saved as a standard Microsoft format (doc, ppt, pps, xl). I may also look at Google Docs for the projects because it opens as a web page with the published link. I would create quizzes using Hot Potato or QuizPort when they switch. Moodle also has an online activity to create a quiz. Students are also able to upload their projects to Moodle to be viewed at your convenience. As the instructor you can create the window to take the tests or upload the assignments.

Moodle has a function called workshop that allows you to view peer’s projects and grade them based on a rubric for the assignment. Students are also able to leave comments on other student’s assignments. I have just started reading about It but it controls the grades, assessment elements, categories in a rubric as well as number of attachments expected and allowing for resubmissions. To get more information go to http://docs.moodle.org/en/Workshop_module .

I have long struggled with the problem of cheating on tests and plagiarism on assignments. In class I have the control of having the students take the tests in class with me monitoring it. I would not give that many points to an online test and the focus would be on reviewing what has already been covered. I think I would have a window of opportunity for students to take the tests. I would control how long the test can be open so that students cannot be looking at the book as they answer the questions. I would also not allow them to retake the test if they scored poorly. I am not sure how else you can control it at this point.

When it comes to plagiarism, I am currently using the poor man’s check. Copy and paste a sentence that you think is suspect into Google and it can tell you where it came from. It works for me now because my Middle Schoolers are not that devious. I know that there are programs out there that can scan submitted documents to find the references but it is cost prohibitive at our school right now. We do run into problems with parents completing projects for students but they can be pretty easy to discover.

Questions I posted:
I was just reading about assessments being used on line and was wondering if there would ever come a time where CSTs would be online? Imagine the savings in paper, scanning and a faster return of results. I know you would need to set up so that students would have a computer and a moderator would have to be going around a lab setting to make sure that students do not go to other resources or it it possible to turn off the rest of the internet and store the results until they could be all uploaded. I don't know, I am just thinking. We could also do the CAHSEE.

How do you set up rubrics for projects and presentations for your classroom? Do you set it up step by step like a checklist to see what it is done? Do you give specific things that you are looking for or do you use a standard one that is broad?

Created for class this week:
Test: This quiz was created to go along with a copyright lesson I use with my students. They take notes on the material and when they are ready, they take an open note test. Ok this one lost me. How do you make it so you can open up a quiz to the public after you have assigned it? I wanted to create the link so that all of you could do it but I don’t know how. Any ideas?

Link to Cyberbee: http://www.cyberbee.com/cb_copyright.swf

Quiz: http://quizstar.4teachers.org/indexs.jsp Then click on cyberbee quiz



Rubric: One of the projects I have for my 7/8th Graders is to use Storytelling Alice to take one of Aesop’s Fables and take that story and retell the story using the program. There need to find a story that has a moral and flows. They need to take that story and make it into 3 different scenes where they show the story and moral of the story. Along with the 3 different scenes, they are to have the camera move to follow the characters. It is a challenge for the students but they are amazed when it is done and they have retold the story. This is my first attempt using this program so I am still working out the kinks.

http://rubistar.4teachers.org/index.php?screen=ShowRubric&rubric_id=1866963&