Opening comment: This week's assignments were worthy of a final project. Is it just me, or did this seem to take forever? :-))

Discussion 2:

1. Design two evaluation activities for this course that take advantage of the online environment.

There are many fine tools available for free, on the Internet, for designing assessment tools. I strongly believe that a course such as this needs to provide the opportunity for researching those tools, so that the learner becomes knowledgeable on not just the content and theory, but in the methods, means, and tools for constructing the environment. In this way, the adult learner in a School for Professional Development will leave the course with the skills needed to immediately apply these concepts -- and the actual, usable items -- in their workplace.

I took my revised Quantitative test items (2), as well as my original Quantitative test items (2) that I applied the suggestions of my peers, and created a small Web-based Multiple Choice exam. The first two questions pertain to the learning in our ED7505 class. The remaining two questions apply to my workplace, and a class I teach on Illustration, in an online undergraduate Fine Arts program.

Rather than describe this assessment tool here, please visit the prototype Portfolio I've created. In keeping with my strong opinion that we must learn to use the very tools of the environment that MAKE our environment, this Portfolio was created in approximately 9 hours, using a free Web-based service and quite a bit of my own HTML/Web Design skills. THIS is a tool I will take from this course, and it has greatly advanced my thinking on the possibilities for the use of Portfolios in online assessment.

I am not clear whether this is supposed to be for students at Art Institute Online, or teachers' evaluations. Either way, since I've taught less than one quarter, I'm not very "in-the-know" concerning teacher evaluations.

But to really get a feel for how assessment is done within a course, I am providing a link to the Syllabus for my current class, User Interface Design. These accelerated 6-week classes are very arduous for student and teacher alike, and the criteria for assessment is very thorough, in my opinion. Click here: cwd920_final-syllabus_overview_points.htm

I frankly do not know the exact process for teacher evaluation, but there are several things that were a part of this initial term of teaching: