Interesting
blog post by Maryellen Weimer today on the Faculty Focus website about grading and how to determine what assessments have the most value in a course. She doesn't discuss technology or online classes, but I think the role of technology in teaching and learning is changing how people learn and how they should be assessed. I like the point she makes about what should be valued:
Exams also test the ability to recall knowledge or to demonstrate thinking within time constraints and without access to resources. Is that one of the most important skills students should take from the course and their college learning experiences?
As she points out, we often do things because that's the way we've always done them, whether or not they remain relevant. How learning is assessed influences what students spend their time on in a course. This is easy to test in an online course -- when forums are graded, usually all students will participate in order to get a good grade. When forums are not graded, participation, in my experience, is more authentic, but often limited to those students who actually have questions or are interested in exploring an idea.
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