Online assessments how can they possibly be inclusive?

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Permalink Reply by John Malloy on December 19, 2012 at 2:24pm

Teachers can create subgroups and differentiate how the assessments are conducted and what each student gets assessed. Spelling City does a great job of that.

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Permalink Reply by Roland Baggott on December 19, 2012 at 2:44pm

If the assessment is set at the students appropriate level then yes I think it could be considered inclusive. Is it not a teachers aim not just to find out what a student does not know thus be able to plan learning for ... but also to be able to recognise a student success and be able to commend and thus help build confidence and learning passion

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Permalink Reply by Theresa Young on December 20, 2012 at 7:28am

Hi Andrea,

In Adult Community Learning, on-line assessment is available at every stage of the students development. Students are able to select paper or on-line for every test they sit from initial assessment through to level 2 (GCSE equivalent). The great advantage to students when sitting on-line assessments is that they get the result instantly and so do not have the agonising wait. Additionally, the students are given feedback so know exactly where they have gone wrong, giving an indication of the areas they may need to work on in order to improve their skills! Off course, if a student finds on-line too much of a challenge, a paper version of the assessment should be available, making the process inclusive!

Theresa

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Permalink Reply by Andrea Thompson on January 7, 2013 at 7:47am

I do like the idea of instant results and feedback and it makes a summative assessment, formative as the student knows what they need to improve and also what they're doing well and hopefully can prepare them better for their next assessment.

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Permalink Reply by Emma Breen on December 21, 2012 at 1:45pm

Hi Andrea,

I think that online assessments can most definitely be inclusive. I don't see a reason why the assessments can't include images, tables, graphs or even comic strips for visual learners, and audio clips or videos for auditory learners (for example). With the technology available to us now I think there will be a way to adapt assessments for all subjects and learning styles.

The word assessment will fill most learners with stress and fear but perhaps this process will put some learners at ease. As most learners these days are so used to technology, I don't imagine there can be that many concerns from their point of view. The more we can do to release that pressure and stress, the better, aiding our learners to achieve their personal bests.

Which subject are you considering an online assessment for? Perhaps we could brainstorm some ideas/ examples, if you think that would be beneficial?
Emma :)

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Permalink Reply by Andrea Thompson on January 7, 2013 at 7:55am

I do see your point about learners being more technology savvy these days, well teenagers especially and this could be a way to appeal to them. For adult learners though who haven't necessarily got to grips with technology to the same degree, I wonder if it would add another stress factor onto them as well as doing the assessment?

I do see technology increasing in education and can see the benefits, but was thinking on-line assessments might become more common place and was wanting to get people's views and experience about them. 

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