Abstract
Learning assessment is defined as assessment and evaluation of the learners' learning activities, process and outcomes. In recent years, as the Internet access is increasingly available, a majority of distance education providers in China have succeeded in delivering programs and support services through modern communications technology, in particular, the Internet. However, as far as the education assessment mode is concerned, the conventional paper-pencil test or endof-course assessment is still overwhelmingly employed for measuring learning outcomes. Therefore, the exploration of web-based learning assessment mode is not only the practical need for conducting open distance instruction and assessment reform at China Central Radio and Television University (CRTVUS), but also has become a hot research topic in the whole sphere of distance education. Under this circumstance, the Examination Center in CCRTVU began to show research interests in exploring web-based assessment mode. As a consequence, in 2005, the Center applied for and launched research project "Practice and research on web-based learning assessment in open and distance education", which is approved by Ministry of Education as a key project program of 2005. This article reports the important research contents of the project. This article first describes the core achievements of the project-namely, design and implementation of the web-based assessment system, principles in creating assessment scheme for the mode, and the mechanism. Then it moves on to report feedback from the pilot population about the application of the web-based learning assessment mode in the two semesters of year 2005. The article ends with the discussion of innovations the research has made.
Highlights
China Radio and Television University (CRTVUs) has a distance education and teaching system, which is composed of CRTVU, the academic headquarter, 44 provincial RTVUs, 987 municipal RTVUs, and over 3000 RTVUs at county levels
One of many aspects to be considered in running the CRTVUs effectively is learning assessment
The Examination Center at CRTVU has been engaged in exploring approaches for continuous assessment
Summary
This section introduces the integral components of a new assessment mode, including the development of the assessment system, the principles and process in creating an assessment scheme for the web-based evaluation mode, and how the mode works, and the corresponding managing mechanism. Course coordinator at the provincial level is in charge of confirming the qualification of tutor of his own province; marker is responsible for marking; mentors (head teachers and tutors) take charge of keeping track of each student’s progress, reminding students to submit their tasks at a given time. Teaching & Examination administrator Central/Provincial Course coordinator Provincial Course Coordinator Marker Mentor/Tutor Student This system is applicable to all hierarchic distance education providers with three levels of “academic headquarter-regional management institution-learning center”. One needs to take into account the roles they play in teaching respectively, nature and type of the course, and what you want learners to achieve before he writes testing specification and constructs assessment tasks. Students don’t need to stay online in the course of completion when they do some subjectively marked tasks, say, composition in English Writing.
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