GOOD

AFTERNOON
EVERYONE!
 ASSESSMENT IN
THE MODERN DAY
EDUCATION

BSED SOCIAL STUDIES 3-A

Reporters
Teaching and assessing students remotely has been a cause of
concern during the last two years. The Covid-19 pandemic has
hastened digitalization in education, even when schools and
teachers were not ready. Various AI-based companies stepped
up to provide platforms to help educational institutions
overcome the challenges of assessing students online. The blog
talks about ways how to assess students in the new normal.
The Covid-19 pandemic has hugely impacted the educational system
around the world. Teachers were asked to teach using video meeting apps.
Students were expected to attend the classes from their homes. Electronic
devices have become a part of education since lockdown.

However, things weren’t smooth or easy. Teachers, parents, and students

struggled to get used to the new teaching method. The situation was much
harder in developing and undeveloped countries where the internet and
technology were not accessible in remote and poor regions. Lack of proper
training was yet another issue. Assessment of students during covid-19 has
also been a cause of concern.
Conducting surprise tests or organizing quizzes needed more work. Various
factors had to be considered before selecting an assessment method. Some
educational institutions follow a mixed approach, while others rely only on
technology. Despite the hurdles, many educators successfully eased into
online learning and assessment.

That’s because several AI-based companies have provided the necessary

apps and platforms to help with online teaching and assessments. Whether
online quizzes or question generator platforms, these tools have given
educational professionals an easy way to streamline their work and assess
students without bias.
CHALLENGES TEACHERS
FACE IN TESTING AND
EVALUATING THE
STUDENTS DURING THE
PANDEMIC
 LACK OF PROPER FINAL ASSESSMENT

For a long time, the final exams were conducted to assess how
the students have learned well through the academic year and
whether they can move on to the higher class or not. With the
final exams being canceled, many students were promoted
based on their performance in the monthly assessments. But
even the monthly tests were conducted online during the
pandemic.
 LACK OF INFRASTRUCTURE

Not all students had access to smartphones. Such students

were taught through television lessons or sharing of
material. Assessing students with little or no access to
electronic devices is even harder, as they cannot attend the
tests the way students with resources can.
DISHONESTY AND CHEATING
Academic dishonesty is something all educational
institutions should consider when conducting online tests.
Many teachers ask students to write their exams with the
camera turned on throughout the duration. It can get
exhausting for teachers to supervise students from the
limited view offered by the camera.
LOW PERSONAL INTERACTION

Online teaching restricts interaction between all parties.

Teachers cannot personally interact with every student, and
the students cannot work with each other in person.
Everything happens through the internet, thus limiting the
teacher’s access to how the students perform in groups.
NO PRACTICAL/ LAB SESSIONS
Subjects like physics, chemistry, biology, computers, etc., have
practical classes where students learn hands-on about various
topics. Online learning has put a break on lab science classes,
thereby creating a hurdle in assessing students’ practical
knowledge. With so many challenges to overcome, how can we
assess students in virtual learning environments and still be fair to
students and teachers? How can teachers conduct assessments
online while overcoming the challenges? Thankfully technology is
here to help.
HOW DO YOU
CONDUCT A
VIRTUAL
ASSESSMENT?
 ONLINE QUIZZES
Quizzes have been a part of educational assessments for decades. Technology has
made it easier to conduct quizzes through remote learning. Quizzes generally
comprise questions that require short answers. Multiple choice questions, fill-in-the-
blanks, true or false statements, etc., are common in quizzes.
Online quizzes like Quizlet and Mentimeter offer the same facilities. Teachers can
conduct a quiz test in bulk and get the results automatically. The teacher sends a link
to each student. The students answer the paper and submit it online through the
same link. The app will process the paper and share the results with the teacher.
Teachers can compare the students’ performance and identify the areas where they
went wrong. It’s simple and fun.
ONLINE GAMES AND ACTIVITIES
Gamification is fast becoming a part of digital learning. It
makes assessment easier by providing teachers with different
solutions to conduct online games and activities for students.
Apps like Kahoot, Plickers, etc., simplify the process of
organizing an online game for students. This makes the
session fun for both teachers and students.
OPEN-ENDED QUESTIONS
Open-ended questions are a great choice to assess complex topics
and students in higher classes. Students can type their answers
into the provided interference or write them on paper and scan
the copies to submit. Some educational institutions use both
methods. This helps students with limited access to a computer.
Taking a picture of the written paper and sending it to the teacher
is convenient for students from remote areas. Either way,
educators have found a way to conduct exams in the long format
despite remote learning.
ONLINE ROLE PLAY AND DIALOGUE
SIMULATIONS
How do you assess students in remote learning, especially for
soft skills and personality development? Apps like iSpring
TalkMaster allow teachers to design characters and assign
dialogues for each. Students are asked to take up characters and
play their part online. Students can also dress up for the role and
perform in front of the camera, as the teacher watches and
makes notes.
ONE-TO-ONE ONLINE VIVA
There’s no denying that this method of assessment is time-
consuming. However, it is the best way to understand the
abilities of each student and pay equal attention to all of
them. Various apps are available to set up one-to-one
interviews with students. Zoom is a perfect example. The
same can be done for group assessments where students
are assessed together.
 ONLINE FORUM DISCUSSIONS
A forum is a discussion group where people discuss and debate a topic by sharing
their opinions. Educational institutions can create online forums exclusively for their
establishment and segregate the rooms based on classes and topics.

The teachers act as moderators and facilitators to ensure that students maintain
discipline when debating and share their inputs respectfully. Teachers can use the
data collected in forums to provide constructive feedback to the students and help
them correct their mistakes. ActiveBoard is a well-known third-party platform that
allows educators to create online message boards.
EFFECTIVE WAYS TO
ASSESS STUDENTS
ONLINE
PREPAI
PrepAI is an AI question generation platform developed by
DataToBiz. It helps teachers create a test paper in less time by using
natural language processing to read the input text and automatically
convert it into a set of questions.
Teachers don’t have to manually go through a huge body of text,
formulate questions, and type them to send to the students. PrepAI
does everything on the teacher’s behalf. That said, it gives the
teacher complete control over which questions to keep and delete.
They can edit and add more questions.
In fact, teachers can determine the type of questions and the
complexity level of the test with just a couple of clicks. Once
the teacher is satisfied with the assessment paper, they can
save and export it in multiple output formats. PrepAI saves
time, effort, and resources. It removes bias and minimizes
errors in conducting assessments. It is available for free and
paid subscriptions.
 KAHOOT
Kahoot is a free online platform that allows teachers to create
fun games and activities for students to participate in and test
their knowledge. The interface is flexible, interactive, and
engaging. It takes just a few minutes to create quizzes and
games in any language. The event can be hosted live by the
teacher so that students can participate in real-time and
compete with each other.
 SOCRATIVE
Socrative offers free and paid assessment tools to educational institutions
and students. The app helps teachers create assessments on the go and
provide immediate feedback to students. Quizzes, MCQs, fillups,
descriptive questions, etc., can be created in a few minutes and shared
with the students. The questions can be edited as well. The Socrative
library helps teachers access the previous assessment questions and
reports. The reports can be downloaded or saved for later. The test papers
are graded immediately to provide instant feedback to students without
putting additional strain on the teacher.
WAYS TO PROVIDE
ONLINE FEEDBACK
TO STUDENTS
SELF-ASSESSMENT QUIZZES
Some online quizzes allow students to check the answers
after submitting theirs. This helps them directly see where
they went wrong and note the correct answer. Students will
have more awareness of their knowledge when they
personally see the test results. Self-assessments also reduce
the load on teachers to correct the test papers. However, they
can still discuss the results with the students.
 AUDIO/ VIDEO FEEDBACK
Written feedback has its limitations as students might misinterpret the
tone, or the teacher may not convey it properly. Getting the tone right can
be exhausting and still leave enough chance for misinterpretation. Students
are used to teachers speaking in the classroom. They focus on the voice and
body language to understand the meaning.

That’s why sending audio and video feedback is an effective way to convey
the exact meaning to the students. It also helps students save the
recordings and listen to them multiple times. Such feedback feels more
personal than text and better impacts the students.
 PEER REVIEWS AND FEEDBACK
Teachers can involve other students in the feedback process, even during
online assessments. Platforms like TurnItIn’s Feedback Studio allow students
to read, review, and assess the papers submitted by their classmates.
Educators can set up the guidelines for reviewing and monitoring the
feedback before it is sent to the student. The students get an insight into
how evaluation works and provide the teacher with deeper insights into the
students’ minds.
The aim is to facilitate constructive feedback so that students learn from
their mistakes without feeling demotivated or confused.
CONCLUSION
Given how new variants of the coronavirus are still active around the
world, we can assume that online learning and assessments are the new
normal in the educational system. Schools, colleges, and educators need
to adopt the latest technology and use the platforms provided by
EdTech companies to deliver quality education to students.

Various educational institutions are actively using PrepAI to

generate questions online using natural language processing along with
other strategies to make distance learning effective. The platform plays a
major role in defining student assessment in the new normal.
Characteristic of
of the 21st Century
Assessment
The following eight characteristics of 21st
century assessment, are essential guide
for preparation of assessment activities
by educators. It is necessary to refer to
these characteristics to ensure that the
learners are being assessed towards the
skills and demand of the 21st century.
 RESPONSIVE
Visible performance-based
work (as a result of
assessment) generates data
that inform curriculum and
instruction.
 FLEXIBLE
Assessment need to be
adaptable to students' settings.
Rather than the identical
approach that works in
traditional assessment, 21st
century approaches are more
versatile.
 INTEGRATED
Assessments are to be
incorporated into day-to-day
practice rather than as add-ons
at the end of instructions or
during a single specified week of
the school calendar.
 INFORMATIVE
Assessments are to be
incorporated into day-to-day
practice rather than as add-ons
at the end of instructions or
during a single specified week
of the school calendar.
 MULTIPLE
METHODS
An assessment continuum that
includes a spectrum of
strategies is the norm.
 COMMUNICATED
Communication of assessment
data is clear and transparent
for all stakeholders.
 TECHNICALLY
SOUND
Adjustments and
accommodations are made in
the assessment process to
meet the students' needs and
fairness.
 SYSTEMIC
21st century assessment is part of
a comprehensive and well-aligned
assessment system that is
balanced and inclusive of all
students, constituents, and
stakeholders and designed to
support improvement at all levels.
Thank You for
Listening!
 REPORTERS

JOHN IRISH M. FRANCIA SARAH P. TALAGATG ELY JOSEPH A. LANDAGAN