by Duan vd Westhuizen ¹

• ¹ University of Johannesburg

These guidelines are intended to support educators in critically examining the role of online assessment in their teaching, and to provide different strategies and tools that can be used for online assessment.

Introduction

In the face of massive educational needs in the developing world, and considering the role that information and communications technologies (ICT) and online learning can play in addressing those needs, these guidelines aim to spark discussions and help teachers/educators plan for integrating online assessment into their teaching and learning. Throughout this paper, the terms teacher and educator are used interchangeably.

Assessment is a critical component of the education process. In the summative mode, assessment results are considered reflective of the knowledge, skills and competencies of students, and these results influence their employability. Students therefore consider summative assessments “high stakes.” Whilst summative assessment is often referred to as assessment of learning, assessment in the formative mode shifts the focus to assessment for learning; both are critical and should therefore be well planned and executed. Educators use formative assessment tasks to gauge and shape student learning through effective feedback, and these should also be used to modify teaching practices (see Appendix A). It is therefore imperative that educators be well versed in the theories and techniques of assessment as well as the impact that online technologies have on practice.