As an instructional designer, you’ll frequently have the task of assessing whether your courses have met their instructional objectives. Typically, trainers consider several parameters to judge the outcome of a course – course completion, engagement, interaction with fellow learners, assignment quality and timeliness, etc. However, a learners’ performance on tests is often an important benchmark for determining course effectiveness. How trainers and course designers develop those test questions is, therefore, critical. Testing a Broad Spectrum of Intellectual Accomplishments The key to writing effective test questions is in developing them so they assess a broad spectrum of intellectual understanding of the course content. It is important to test all six levels of that understanding, as espoused by Bloom’s Taxonomy: Knowledge Comprehension Application Analysis Synthesis, and Evaluation …with knowledge being the lowest level of understanding, and evaluation … [Read more...] about Ten Rules for Writing Effective Test Questions
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Why is Quality Assurance Important in ELearning
Quality Assurance - Case Study The Advanced Media, Inc. team was struggling with the end of a major project: a huge simulation designed to train officers in the military. Though they had a standard QA process, they were quickly finding that the usual process was inadequate. Their military clients were incredibly detail oriented and needed every aspect of the training to be perfectly accurate, clear to a wide variety of learners, and it should conform to protocol. The need for more and more reviews and revisions was creating tension with their clients and losing them money. The team knew they should have clarified the process before the project had begun, but it was too late now—they were bogged down with work. Finally, the instructional design lead decided they needed a pair of fresh eyes. She brought in a QA Analyst from another project who was known for his ability to streamline and simplify the QA process. First, the QA Analyst decided to have a meeting with the clients. He … [Read more...] about Why is Quality Assurance Important in ELearning
How to Engage ELearners Through Questioning Techniques
Questioning learners has always been a very effective tool in the arsenal of instructors. In an eLearning context however, because of the physical separation of teachers and learners, the use of questioning techniques attains even more relevance. What course developers and instructors can’t assess through visual observation and in-person interactions, they must accomplish through innovative questioning techniques. 5 ELearning Questioning Strategies Before online course developers and instructional designers start creating their question banks, it is vital to understand the objectives that are sought to be accomplished from the questions. Questions should then be built around a comprehensive strategy, which key elements should include: Communication: Using strategically designed questions, evaluate whether there is a high degree of communication between learners and instructors. If the response reveals lack of good communication, then your instructional … [Read more...] about How to Engage ELearners Through Questioning Techniques
