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Online Learning News and Research
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Sunday, August 22, 2004
Multiple Assessment Measures Used in a Business, Career, and Technical Education Department - Shelia TUCKER and Elizabeth HODGE, TOJDE
The federal government, accrediting agencies, new technologies, as well as complaints from colleges about the accreditation process are all forces driving the push to reevaluate how we assess what students learn. The problem is how do we meet such broad mandates? Because distance education is relatively new, critics hold it to a higher standard as opposed to traditional education. Thus, since distance education has more to prove, educators are trying to establish a variety of assessments that prove its effectiveness (Ewell, in Carnevale, 2001). Accrediting agencies are encouraging colleges to move beyond the traditional measures of success such as satisfaction surveys from students, employers, and alumni. They stress the use of a variety of measurement tools to audit students’ work such as examining their writing and critical-thinking skills. However, many faculty dislike the notion of measuring what students have learned and some find the idea that surveys are more meaningful than grades insulting. It has been compared with the idea of faculty being or not being able to receive tenure based on the number of publications they have. Other faculty believes measurement is useful as long as it is not at the expense of more important issues (McMurtrie, 2000).
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