Evaluating a Distance Course

Evaluating a distance course can be as hard and difficult or as simple and easy as we, distance teachers, manage the course. For this, is important to take into consideration the use of appropriate tools to assess the course, to provide with the necessary feedback and to provide with accurate and meaningful information to guide our students to a whole new experience with distance courses and to help ourselves throughout the course in a smoothly and convenient way. 

First of all, it is necessary to use the appropriate tools to assess our class. Because when using the right tools we will have control of what we will assess. For example, by using rubrics to assess, this will help us to keep track of all the activities that we are assessing as well as more detailed way of each aspect that we will be considering on our assessing making the assessing easy and fair, since we are assessing all of  our students with one criteria. By using the portfolio, we will help students to value their work and also they will learn to be more organized to keep a track of all of their activities trough the course, and at the end of the course they will be able to actually see the progress they are making. Which on a distance course is a perfect chance to show students proof that they are improving on their skills and knowledge. 

Second of all, by providing the necessary feedback we will help students to improve in aspects that they might need some extra push. Feedback is a very important aspect when comes to evaluate a course, since students will be able to get information about their impureness or their weaknesses, so they can either keep up with the good work or pay more attention to certain aspects of their learning so they could change their ways on time, so at the end of the course they will be able to actually overcome their weaknesses. It is also important for distance teachers to encourage peer feedback among fellow classmates, improving with this their autonomous skills, facilitating with informal assessing because students will be interacting with each other enriching participation, meaningful interaction and enhancing team work.

Finally, providing accurate and meaningful information, such as outlines, the curriculum of the course, along with a detailed list of all the activities that the student will need to achieve through the course, is a helpful way to assess a class, since by providing information will help students to become more autonomous or at least they will be aware of all the activities and goals they need to achieve in order to pass the course. Giving with this, once again, the chance to informally assess distance students. Since being away from a classroom makes it difficult to assess informally, since we are not checking closely what the students are actually doing to get all their activities done. 

In conclusion, by using the correct assessing tools, providing and encouraging feedback and providing accurate information will help us to evaluate distance students in an easier way. It is important to keep in mind that aside from all the above mentioned, good organization is an ally to maintain the course smooth and easy when it comes to evaluation.