Assessing Learning in Online Education

1 National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment October 2011. Assessing Learning in Online Education : The Role of Technology in Improving Student Outcomes Matthew Prineas and Marie Cini Foreword by Peter Ewell nowledge accountability connection self-reflection educate action under stand communicate listen learn access quality innovation success ingenuity ntellect curiosity challenge create achievement connection self-reflection educate action under stand communicate listen learn access quality innov uccess ingenuity intellect curiosity challenge knowledge accountability connection under stand communicate listen learn access quality innovation s ngenuity self-reflection educate action under stand intellect knowledge accountability connection

2 Self-reflection educate action under stand commun uriosity challenge create achievement connection self-reflection curiosity challenge create achievement connection self-reflection knowledge accou onnection self-reflection educate action under stand communicate listen learn access quality innovation success ingenuity intellect curiosity challen ducate innovation success ingenuity intellect curiosity challenge create achievement knowledge accountability connection self-reflection educate a nder stand communicate curiosity challenge create achievement connection self-reflection under stand communicate listen learn access quality acti ction under stand communicate listen learn action under stand communicate listen learn access quality innovation success ingenuity intellect curios hallenge knowledge accountability connection access quality self-reflection curiosity challenge create achievement learn access quality innovation ngenuity self-reflection educate action under stand intellect knowledge accountability connection self-reflection educate action under stand knowled ccountability connection self-reflection educate action under stand communicate listen learn access quality innovation success ingenuity intellect c hallenge connection knowledge accountability connection self-reflection educate action

3 Under stand communicate listen learn access quality innova uccess ingenuity challenge create achievement connection self-reflection educate action under stand connection self-reflection under stand commun sten learn access quality action create achievement connection self-reflection educate action under stand communicate listen learn access quality uccess educate action communicate listen learn access quality action educate action under stand communicate educate innovation success self-refl nowledge accountability communicate listen learn achievement connection self-reflection educate action under stand communicate listen learn acc nnovation success ingenuity intellect access quality innovation success self-reflection curiosity challenge create achievement connection self-reflec nder stand educate action under stand communicate listen learn action under stand communicate listen learn access quality innovation success inge uriosity challenge create achievement connection self-reflection under stand communicate listen learn access quality action create achievement con elf-reflection educate action under stand communicate listen learn access quality innovation success educate action communicate listen learn acce Oc c a s i o n a l Pa p e r # 1 2.

4 Lear National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment | 1 About the Authors Matthew Prineas Matthew Prineas is the Academic Director for English, Literature, and Humanities in the School of Undergraduate Studies at University of Mary- Contents land University College. He received his PhD in English language and litera- ture from the University of Rochester and an in English from the Abstract .. 3. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. Previously, he worked as an adminis- Foreword .. 4. trator at the National Endowment for the Humanities, where he coordinated curriculum development for EDSITE ment, an Online resource for K-12 Assessing Learning in Online teachers across the country.

5 From 1995-2000, he was a faculty member in Education .. 6. the English department at Idaho State University, and has published articles Learning Analytics: Designing Data- on Milton, Henry Vaughan, Ben Jonson, and other seventeenth-century Driven Interventions to Support authors. Student Learning .. 7. Marie Cini Online Mastery Learning : Closing Marie Cini is the Vice Provost and Dean of the Undergraduate School at the Gap Between Assessment and University of Maryland University College, where she oversees 32 bacca- Learning .. 8. laureate programs serving 67,000 students worldwide. She earned a PhD. and a master's degree in social psychology from the University of Pittsburgh, Courses and Programs that Learn.

6 As well as a master's degree in counselor Education from Pennsylvania State .9. University. Before UMUC, she was an associate vice president for Academic Changing Roles for Faculty .. 12. Affairs and interim dean of the School of Management at City University of Seattle. During her tenure there, she reorganized and led the school's Conclusion .. 12. e-campus initiative, while also establishing common curriculum standards, enhancing the Prior Learning Assessment process and linking academic References .. 14. affairs staff in the more closely with those in the international arena. Dr. Cini has published and presented extensively on the topics of authentic NILOA.

7 Assessment and academic integrity, leadership development in adult learners, retention and adult learners, group newcomers and innovation, and program National Advisory Panel .. 16. development across cultures. About NILOA .. 17. NILOA Staff .. 17. NILOA Sponsors .. 17. In this compelling new NILOA Occasional Paper, Matthew Prineas and Marie Cini argue persuasively not only that the connections between Online Education and Learning outcomes assessment are deep but also that the mediated settings provided by Online Education have the potential to significantly improve assessment and its capacity to improve teaching and Learning . The ideas and information contained in this publication are those of the authors Peter T.

8 Ewell and do not necessarily reflect the views of Carnegie Corporation of New York, Lumina Vice President, NCHEMS Foundation for Education , or The Teagle Senior Scholar, NILOA Foundation. National Institute for Learning Outcomes Assessment | 2 intellect curiosity challenge create achievement connection self-reflection educate action under stand communicate listen learn access qualit innovation success ingenuity intellect curiosity challenge knowledge accountability connection under stand communicate listen learn access qualit innovation success ingenuity self-reflection educate action under stand intellect knowledge accountability connection self-reflection educate actio under stand communicate curiosity challenge create achievement connection self-reflection curiosity challenge create achievement connection sel reflection knowledge

9 Accountability connection self-reflection educate action under stand communicate listen learn access quality innovation succes ingenuity intellect curiosity challenge educate innovation success ingenuity intellect curiosity challenge create achievement knowledge accountabilit connection self-reflection educate action under stand communicate curiosity challenge create achievement connection self-reflection under stan communicate listen learn access quality action educate action under stand communicate listen learn action under stand communicate listen learn acces Abstract Assessing Learning in Online Education The national Learning outcomes assessment (LOA) movement and Online Learning in higher Education emerged during roughly the same period.

10 What has not yet developed is a sophisticated understanding of the power of Online Learning and its concomitant technologies to change how we view, design, and administer LOA programs. This paper considers how emerging techniques, such as data mining and Learning analytics, allow the use of performance and behavioral data to improve student Learning not just for future iterations of a program but in real time for current students. Also considered are powerful Learning methodologies which predate Online Learning but have found renewed utility when coupled with new technologies for Assessing and assisting student learners. In this paper, we postulate that technology will enable educators to design courses and programs that learn in the same way that individual students learn, and we offer some conditions that we believe are important to further this goal.