Faculty practices in effective online student assessment in engineering and technology

Abstract

Distance learning is recognized in the engineering and technology-related education profession as an attractive method of instructional delivery. The asynchronous and economical advantages of distance education and learning make offering and taking them very popular. The fast pace availability of the technology and its rapidly changing environment compel the profession to constantly evaluate, address, re-evaluate and re-engineer some of the assessment-related issues. In this article, we discuss some aspects of online performance assessment in distance learning environments in engineering and technology. The article is built on the foundation laid by many previous studies and articles by the authors and others. It encompasses discussions on effective techniques on the use of technology for online student performance assessment. We rely on our own many years of online teaching as an experiential instrument in the former parts of this study while we use statistical analysis in the later part of the paper. The data used are collected from recent sample courses in engineering and technology taught by the authors and their colleagues. We conclude that the currently available automated robust and effective online assessment tools are significant in pedagogical assessment in engineering and technology. The results are confirmed through our discussions with the colleagues having similar experience at some other institutions of higher education. We plan to expand our database and revalidate our study through collaborative data-sharing efforts with our colleagues across the States in the near future. © American Society for Engineering Education, 2010.