Abstract:

Assessment is acknowledged as a fundamental element in course design (Christen, 2003) and has great impact on teaching and learning (e.g., Anderson, Bauer & Speck, 2002). While much has been written on assessing students in traditional environments, there is a paucity of research on assessment of students in online environments (Reeves, 2000, 2002). This paper reports a study that investigated considerations and rationales that instructors had in design and use of assessment methods in online courses they taught. Twenty instructors teaching online courses at a large public university in the United States were interviewed on a one-on-one basis. Seven factors were identified from the instructors` reflections on their considerations and rationales behind the assessment methods they used, which included: (1) students, (2) motivation, (3) learning, (4) subject areas, (5) programs, (6) characteristics of the online delivery format, and (7) constraints. Each of the factors and their subcategories were reported. Implications of the findings and suggestions for further research were discussed.

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