A number of factors can determine how you assess or measure learners' performance in an education or training course. These can include your philosophy as an educator or trainer, the types of learners you are dealing with and the delivery system you are using. However, the biggest consideration has to be the content you are teaching, particularly the levels of learning it represents and the performance objectives you have specified during the analysis phase of the ISD process.
Consider the following performance objective:
"Name the components of a standard personal computer."
You will recall that the action verb name corresponds
to Bloom's knowledge domain. Correspondingly, your method of assessing
to what extent your learners can name the components of a standard personal
computer should be appropriate (oral response, multiple choice, matching,
or fill in the blank). In other words, the level of assessment should
match the type of performance and level of learned capability represented
by the objective. If your performance objectives represent higher
levels in Bloom's cognitive domain, such as synthesis or evaluation, actual
performance in real or simulated situations or practical projects for
which answers are more open-ended - rather than predetermined - become
more appropriate means of assessing learning.
For a summary of levels of learning and their
appropriate performance measures click here.
Give it a try...
The following table lists three performance objectives and suggests performance
measures for each. Complete the table by filling in the blanks with the
appropriate level of learning according to Bloom's taxonomy. Click here
to complete the exercise.
Consider this course, and the types of performance measures that have
been chosen. You will notice a diversity of measures have been incorporated
into its design. These range from online discussions focussed on higher
order content (according to Bloom's taxonomy) that encourage analysis,
synthesis and evaluation, to open-ended assignments which require application
of information covered in the course, to simple review questions that
are either embedded
or appear at the end of each module. You will notice that there is no
formal testing. This approach results from matching performance measures
to levels of learning as outlined in this lesson, but also tries to respect
the learning preferences of adult learners, many of whom bring considerable
knowledge and experience to their studies. Performance measures that encourage
critical reflection, are open-ended, practical, and provide opportunity
to contextualize learning, are often more valuable and relavant than formal
testing based on right or wrong answers.
For further reading on
this topic you can access the following
on-line resources: