Faculty members, have you ever asked yourself any of the following questions? Why should I consider alternative assessment techniques when what I have been doing for years seems to be working? How do I move from the traditional face-to-face and multiple choice assessments into the 21st century of effective online assessments?
The presentations provided by Professors Cassey and Pelt highlight a variety of online assessment strategies. Selected examples from graduate and undergraduate classes include a non-traditional project presentation rubric, time-saving outcome oriented assignments, an analytical paper rubric incorporating a class wiki and a Blackboard learning object resulting in a synchronous discussion board posting.
Successful integration of assessment in the online environment depends on a few key factors. An instructor may have proven methods for testing the student's knowledge base in a traditional classroom; however, tried and true conventions for assessment do not always translate verbatim into online or blended course work. The presenters will layout a pedagogical design for creating quizzes, tests or surveys for online courses, showcasing best practices, instructional strategies and popular tools within the Blackboard Learning Management System. Symposium details and registration information is below.
About the Presenters Peggy Cassey MPH, RN, BC
Peggy Cassey has been teaching blended and fully online courses since the early 1990's. She is an early adopter of new technology tools and always attempts to incorporate new strategies that will help to capture and validate the critical thinking and collaboration skills of students. She uses rubrics and learning objects to guide students to successful completion of online assessments. Peggy currently teaches an elective in Nursing Informatics and the core Community Health Nursing course for the undergraduate nursing program and the graduate entry nursing students at UIC.
Phyllis Powell Pelt MS, RN
Phyllis Pelt has been somewhat of an online pioneer at the College of Nursing. In 1998 under the Sloan Grant, she was first hired as a content expert to assist in the transition of school nurse specialty information from the face to face format to an online format that would meet the needs of adult learners. Consequently, Phyllis learned to take advantage of the wide range of UIC resources to support increasing the comfort level of new online learners (average age 43). As Director of the School Nurse
Certificate Program she continues to facilitate the update of assessment strategies in the School Nurse Internship and School Nurse Theory and Trends which have been 90% online since 1999.
Renee Welch
Renee Welch is an Assistant Director for Instructional Design at External Education. She is responsible for support and the development of faculty and adjunct instructors who are redesigning and creating blended and online university courses, as well as professional education programs. Renee is also an online instructor. She holds a doctorate of philosophy degree in Educational Policy from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and is a certified Master Online Instructor.
Karin Riggs
Karin Riggs splits her time at UIC between External Education and the Instructional Technology Lab, assisting faculty and staff in using technology in the curriculum. For the ITL, she teaches the majority of computer workshops offered through the Academic Computing and Communications Center, assists in the one-on-one training available to UIC faculty and staff and creates Web, video and multimedia projects. For External Education, Karin works as a technologist, offering multimedia solutions to faculty and instructors posting course materials online for the first time, or wishing to enhance their existing online presence.
Contact For further details regarding this event, please contact External Education at (312) 355-0423 or by e-mail at exedworkshops@uic.edu.
Related Information
Faculty who would like curriculum support in developing an online or blended course can contact Karin Riggs in External Education. Using a team approach, External Education will partner with UIC's Instructional Technology Lab to identify the best solutions for developing a new online course or taking an existing course and developing an online section.
