We have in this winter issue of AEQ an impressive array of articles dealing mainly with distance education and many focusing on online instruction. How to assess the quality of instruction delivered through other means than face-to-face classroom activity is a growing question. This issue contains articles which suggest possibilities. Among the questions are how online courses may be evaluated, how student outcomes may be measured, how to establish qualification criteria for students enrolling in online courses, how to determine qualification criteria for faculty who wish to teach such courses, and how to draw comparisons between online courses and traditional courses. The three main types of evaluation tools-quantitative, summative, and formative-may be used, but it has been my experience that the latter is more productive for distance and online instruction. Formative evaluations allow for mid-course corrections if needed. Because of the flexibility of the online format, the instructor may receive comments from students, and the course may be altered accordingly. But how does the instructor encourage forthright responses from the students without their fear of instructor reprisal? How will the students be assured that whatever criticisms they offer will not be punished by a lower grade? (We are generally confident about our colleagues' professionalism, but many of our students aren't.) One method would be asking students to send their feedback to a distinterested third party, who would then summarize the comments and forward the information to the instructor. Another method would involve encouraging the students to set up anonymous web-based e-mail addresses from Hotmail or Yahoo. Anonymity would be a key feature, just as it is so in our face-to-face course evaluations. Periodically, the instructor would ask the students how the course is going for them, how the material can be related to other information in the course, how significant the course material is to them, and how the course may be improved so far. Meaningful criticism from the students could lead to a course adjustment. Finally, at the end of the course, a more summative evaluation would be in order. This would be an assessment tool which would ask the students specific questions about the course, about the technology, and about their own outcomes. This too would be anonymous and would be sent to a disinterested third party until all final grades had been submitted. But there are many different opinions regarding methods of assessment of online and distance instruction, and this issue will present us with a number of them. The authors are experienced teachers who offer us their suggestions, and that activity is what Academic Exchange Quarterly is all about. Ben Varner, Ph.D. University of Northern Colorado Issue Editor |