Learning
assessment is established as a key process in education. Being learning the
goal of educational initiatives, its evaluation becomes the means to analyse,
guide and promote students' performance.
Learning
assessment in open and distance education is facing new challenges and
scenarios, due to current or renewed conceptual and political frames -such as
the European Higher Education Area (EHEA)
and the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System (ECTS)-
and to the increasing number of developments in the technological and
pedagogical fields -such as automatic assessment tools or peer grading in
massive open online courses.
Within
this context, the current issue of Open Praxis focuses on
the assessment of students' learning in open, distance and flexible education.
The call for papers acknowledged aspects such as the following:
- Assessment challenges in open and
distance education.
- Innovations in assessment methodologies
and tools.
- Technological tools for assessment. Pedagogical possibilities and limits.
- Successful and relevant experiences of
use of new methods, techniques and tools.
The expectation was to cover theoretical
foundations, concepts, analysis and results of studies regarding learning
assessment in open and distance education, referring to aspects such as
integration of teaching, learning and assessment processes; limits and
possibilities of diverse assessment methodologies and tools for diverse
knowledge, skills and competences; challenges that assessment faces in open
education; links between learning assessment and other relevant aspects in open
and distance education: credentialing, educational quality and improvement;
learning analytics, etc. We also expected to provide a description and analysis
of concrete experiences of use and implementation of new assessment methods and
tools in open and distance education: peer-evaluation, self-evaluation, badges,
e-portfolios, prior learning assessment and recognition, etc.
The issue presents five papers covering
different aspects regarding learning assessment, from reflections on assessment challenges
to the use of rubrics in a course, going through a review of feedback in
distance education or aspects to consider during examinations.
In the first paper, Moeketsi
Letseka and Victor Pitsoe (Reflections
on assessment in Open Distance Learning (ODL): the case of the University of
South Africa (UNISA)) describe the implications of assessment when it is
focused on quality of teaching and learning. They deepen in the experience of a
specific course at UNISA, where they advocate for
formative assessment combined with final examination. Among the challenges in
ODL, the authors highlight their concern with authorship of assignments
-specially when there are big differences between students' performance in the
assignments and in final exam- a question that remains unsolved.
S. V. S. Chaudhary
and Niradhar Dey (Assessment
in Open and Distance Learning System (ODL): A Challenge) provide a
comprehensive overview of practices and challenges faced by ODL systems. Among
the latter, integration between formative and summative assessment is again
underlined. Less experimented practices, like open-book examinations or
extended use of e-portfolios, are also discussed. The authors stand up for a
renovation of conventional practices of students' assessment in ODL, always
linking it with learning improvement.
Anthony Odera Unamma (Community
members’ interference and conduct of University distance learning examinations
In South Eastern Nigeria), under the assumption that communities are
interfering in examinations in Nigerian universities with distance learning
programmes, highlights through a survey-based study characteristics,
consequences and measures to reduce negative interference. A set of
recommendations for University administrators is provided, founded on the
promotion of university-community collaboration.
Jane Costello
and Daph Crane (Technologies for learner centered feedback) go into detail about one of the
elements identified by previous authors among formative assessment pillars,
i.e. feedback. After describing the importance of feedback for learning and identifying
different types of it, they focus on technologies to provide feedback (typed,
audio, video, automated, etc.) and their relationship with more or less
suitable feedback methods. They broaden the e-feedback landscape to help
instructors innovate and increase students' motivation and learning.
Closing the special section of papers focused on
learning assessment in open, distance and flexible education, Ishan Sudeera Abeywardena (Mastery
of Course Learning Outcomes in ODL: A Case Study of the Pearson eCollege Learning Outcome Manager) analyses the
correlation between continuous and final assessment marks, and mastery of
course learning outcomes (measured with rubrics setup on a web based software
platform) in a specific course. The process is explained in detail, and leads
to practical conclusions and recommendations, both in the methodological and
technological domains.
Although some aspects addressed in the
call remain unexplored or are not analysed in depth in this issue, papers cover
a wide range of topics and case studies in relation with assessment in ODL. In
addition to the articles for the special theme, the issue includes two contributions
that fall within the sphere of interest of the journal, i.e. research and
innovation in open, distance and flexible education.
In the innovative practice articles
section of the journal, Samuel Adesola Adeyemo, Gloria Olusola Adedoja and Omobola Adelore (Mobile technology: implications of its
application on learning), present a focus group discussions-based study
developed at University of Ibadan, following Davis’ Technology Acceptance Model (TAM), which highlights some problems and
possibilities in the use of mobile phones for learning from the students'
perspective. Implications of their findings are relevant to institutional and
educational providers.
Finally, Mandar L. Bhanushe (theCN.com: An Academic-cum-Social Networking
Online Platform), reviews a learning platform that introduces social
networking besides traditional platform features, i.e. course content delivery
and management. He describes mainly positive aspects
of this platform for ODL.
Our wish in Open Praxis is that the topics
covered in this issue contribute to reflection, debate and improvement of
learning assessment in open and distance education practices, and in ODL in
general. We invite readers to revise our volume 5 issue 1 (special issue on openness in higher
education), where prior learning assessment and recognition (RPL or PLAR), as a
means to credentialing for lifelong learning, was dealt with in three papers.
Special thanks from Open Praxis to
the authors and to the reviewers who have collaborated in this issue.