Ubiquitous Learning and Instructional Technologies MOOC’s Updates
Essential Peer Reviewed Update #7
Make an Update: Describe and evaluate an innovative assessment approach or technology.
In some universities and schools, in order to improve students' ability and competence as future employees in the industry, some assessments of engineering courses are given by members of the industry group together with the faculty in the university. This experience is of great value to students as they have the opportunity to receive feedback from not only professors and lecturers who teach them, but also from professionals and experts who have been in the industry for a long time. This means students can taste the difference between the academic point of view, and the point of view from the actual working environment.
Making assessments in my opinion is fun. Taking assessments is another story. The approach I take to creating assessments is based on a checklist of parts the assessment must have to be successful as not only as a tool to assess knowledge, but teach as well. First, it needs to have validity and reliability to the subject. Will it stand the test of time? It needs to improve the participants learning. It also needs to match the learning outcomes and content of the course. No detours. Lastly, I feel it has to be transparent so the learners knows exactly what is expected of them and what the assessment will do for them.