Assessment at a distance: Traditional vs. Alternative Assessments
“Assessment performances are day-to-day activities that can also be authentic and engaging demonstrations of students’ abilities to grapple with the central challenges of a discipline in real life contexts” (Kulieke, Bakker, Collins, Fennimore, Fine, Herman, Jones, Raack, & Tinzmann, 1990, p.2).
Assessment is one of the crucial components of the instruction. People within the educational community, i.e. policymakers, educators, students, parents, administrators, have different ideas regarding the implementation of assessment strategies (Dietel, Herman, and Knuth, 1991). While some believe traditional assessment methods are more effective, others think that alternative assessment tools are superior. This article is written to inform people particularly in the field of distance education about assessment practices at a distance. However, the content of assessment is not a field specific and it can be applied to various instructional settings (Simonson, Smaldino, Albright, and Zvacek, 2000). Therefore, anyone who is directly or indirectly related to education –distance or face-to-face- might find the information presented in this article useful.