Blended learning and teaching –i.e. blending online and face-to-face learning activities- is not something that came up during the last year’s COVID-19 pandemic period. It was there already since the Internet has been introduced in teaching and learning. But what we did learn is that a thoughtful decision on how to use technology in teaching and learning might be a better choice than using technology to do what teachers always had done.
Computer-based assessment and teaching class
Computer based assessment offers an attractive opportunity to blend technology and face-to-face teaching. Student practice their skills and knowledge online and receive automated tailor-made feedback on their achievements. Teachers can use these achievement data to design their teaching in class or online teaching. This is what in the domain of learning analytics is called embedded analytics and extracted analytics. Embedded analytics refer to data that are used to inform the learner without teacher intervention and extracted analytics refer to data that can be used to improve classroom instruction. For teachers this could sound like Killing two birds with one stone: Use the benefits of students’ practicing and receiving feedback at their own ability level and use the data generated by the assessment to prepare class and to teach adaptively. But is this as easy as it looks?
Teaching with learning analytics: How to connect computer-based assessment data with classroom instruction?
In the article, various teaching formats have been described in which teachers base their teaching on the data generated from computer-based assessments. Moreover, the procedures are described from students completing their computer-based assessment to teaching based on these. Although this research have been carried out prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, the procedures can easily be transformed to current times. It is all about how to connect computer-based assessment data with classroom instruction.
Admiraal, W., Vermeulen, J., & Bulterman-Bos, J. (2020). Teaching with learning analytics: How to connect computer-based assessment data with classroom instruction? Technology, Pedagogy and Education, 29(5), 577-591.
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