Online formative assessment in higher education: A review of the literature

Abstract

As online and blended learning has become common place educational strategy in higher education, educators need to reconceptualise fundamental issues of teaching, learning and assessment in non traditional spaces. These issues include concepts such as validity and reliability of assessment in online environments in relation to serving the intended purposes, as well as understanding how formative assessment functions within online and blended learning. This article provides a systematic qualitative review of the research literature on online formative assessment in higher education. As an integrative narrative review, the method applied in this review entailed systematic searching, reviewing, and writing this review of the literature to bring together key themes and findings of research in this field. The authors applied qualitative thematic criteria in selecting and reviewing the available literature from which they focused on identifying and analyzing the core themes that are central to the concept of formative assessment with a key focus on application of formative assessment within blended and online contexts. Various techniques were identified for formative assessment by the individual, peers and the teacher, many of which were linked with online tools such as self-test quiz tools, discussion forums and e-portfolios. The benefits identified include improvement of learner engagement and centrality in the process as key actors, including the development of a learning community. The key findings are that effective online formative assessment can foster a learner and assessment centered focus through formative feedback and enhanced learner engagement with valuable learning experiences. Ongoing authentic assessment activities and interactive formative feedback were identified as important characteristics that can address threats to validity and reliability within the context of online formative assessment.

Introduction

Online and blended learning have become common place in 21st century higher education. Larreamendy-Joerns and Leinhardt (2006) review of the literature “observed two complementary movements in the educational landscape: the merging of online teaching and learning into the stream of everyday practices at universities, and the increasingly salient role of distance programs in institutions of higher education” (p. 572). Talent-Runnels et al (2006) reviewed course environment, learners’ outcomes, learners’ characteristics, and institutional and administrative factors. In critiquing the available literature, they identified that “asynchronous communication seemed to facilitate in-depth communication (but not more than in traditional classes), students liked to move at their own pace, learning outcomes appeared to be the same as in traditional courses, and students with prior training in computers were more satisfied with online courses” (p. 93). A meta-analysis of online learning reported by the US Department of Education (2009) suggests that online instruction, in general, can be more beneficial than traditional face-to-face (f2f) instruction for both K-12 and older learners. In addition, second order meta-analysis of the impact of any application technology on learning over 40 years by Tamin, Bernard, Borokhovski, Abrami, and Schmid (2011) indicates a mean effect size of 0.33. However, none of these relatively recent literature reviews and further analyses directly addressed assessment, which is of interest because online and web enhanced courses provide many additional opportunities to dynamically interact with and assess learners, opportunities which are enhanced through formative assessment (Oosterhof, Conrad, & Ely, 2008).

Assessment is at the heart of formal higher education. As identified by Bransford, Brown, and Cocking (2000, pp. 1–28), assessment is a core component for effective learning. The authors indicate that teaching and learning processes need to be assessment-centered to provide learners with opportunities to demonstrate their developing abilities and receive support to enhance their learning. It is important to note that, although formative assessment (assessment to support learning) and summative assessment (for validation and accreditation) are not separate or fixed processes, tensions exist between them (Wiliam & Black, 1996). Assessment can also be deeply embedded in pedagogy. For example, research of problem-based learning emphasizes embedded assessment and indicates that the levels of the knowledge structure being developed have implications for assessment strategies (Gijbels, Dochy, Bossche, & Segers, 2005). The literature reviewed by Hattie and Timperly (2007), and Nicol and Macfarlane (2006), which did not include research in online learning, indicated that feedback is most effective when highly related to clearly identified learning goals so that effective formative feedback is not only based on monitoring progress toward the specific goals but also promotes students to develop effective learning strategies. These processes characterize formative assessment and are aimed at supporting learning.

As Vonderwell, Liang, and Alderman (2007) indicated, assessment (whether formative or summative) in online learning contexts encompasses distinct characteristics as compared to f2f contexts particularly due to the asynchronous nature of interactivity among the online participants (the teacher and learners). Therefore, it requires educators to rethink online pedagogy in order to achieve effective formative assessment strategies that can support meaningful (higher-order or deep) learning and its assessment. Meaningful interactions within an effective learning community are antecedent to interactive collaboration which is a critical sociocognitive process in online settings necessary to facilitate critical thinking, a desirable marker for higher-order learning particularly informal higher education (Akyol et al., 2009, Kehrwald, 2010). However, as Akyol et al. (2009) identified, it is not an easy process to develop effective learning communities that will facilitate meaningful interactions particularly in online and blended settings because this requires well-structured strategies that are not always obvious among online educators. Effective integration of formative assessment in online learning environments has the potential to offer an appropriate structure for sustained meaningful interactions among learners and the teacher, and foster development of effective learning communities to facilitate meaningful learning and its assessment (Sorensen & Takle, 2005). Moreover, this can provide a systematic structure for effective learner support through ongoing monitoring of learning and provision of adequate formative feedback. Ongoing support for scaffolding learning is critical in online learning, and can be essentially facilitated through sustained interactive collaboration among the teacher and learners (Ludwig-Hardman & Dunclap, 2003). This is because it supports learners to engage productively, and assists them in the development of self-regulated learning dispositions. This in turn supports them to take primary responsibility for their learning which is an important requirement for success in online learning. Agreeing with these authors, our viewpoint is that sustained meaningful interactions and collaboration among the individual learner, peers and the teacher as learning community with a shared purpose can enhance opportunities for ongoing and adequate learner support. This can ultimately foster meaningful engagement and deep learning in online higher education. Following this viewpoint, we propose that effective application of formative assessment in online learning environments can offer an innovative pedagogical strategy to facilitate such opportunities.

In online higher education, however, emphasis continues to be placed on summative assessment with formative assessment receiving little attention despite its crucial role in promoting learning (Pachler et al., 2010, Wang et al., 2008). For this reason, Pachler et al. (2010) and Wang, Wang, and Huang (2008) recommended a refocused emphasis on online formative assessment in order to create learner and assessment centered learning environments. However, a search of the literature did not reveal any review of online formative assessment. This paper aims to fill that gap with a focus on how formative assessment support learners in developing domain content knowledge and professional skills in an online environment. We also aim to enhance understanding of the core assessment concepts of validity and reliability as they occur in online contexts.