Education systems and methods are shaped according to the needs of societies and technology. Today, technological possibilities bring about deep and radical changes in every field. With the educational environments becoming computer-aided and online, the measurement and evaluation of student achievement had to be computer-assisted and online. The purpose of this chapter is to provide the basic logic of computer-based measurement and evaluation and to explain the methods. Computer-based assessment and evaluation have many benefits for students, teachers, and institutions. While the advantages include continuous monitoring of students, low cost, and rapid and equal access to many students at the same time, it is seen as a disadvantage that students have the opportunity to cheat and get outside help.
TopIntroduction
The industrial revolution that started in the 1800s is now followed by the information revolution. The Prussian education model, which follows a systematic and school-based education, is no longer able to serve the needs of our age, because the information is increasing at a rate that has never been before, and with the development of technology, people can access information from different sources. Although increasing information and technology is seen as a threat to the classical functions of the school, educational institutions now have to adapt themselves to the times. New technologies allow the continuous delivery of educational services that would normally be interrupted by pandemics, natural disasters, or geographical conditions.
Today, hybrid, distance and online education methods provide teaching services to a wide audience, mainly in higher education and non-formal education. The purpose of this chapter is to explain what online and hybrid teaching is and to provide information on the evaluation of student success, especially in such educational settings. The integration of technology in classrooms has become crucial competency for teachers as it improves learning. Students pay more attention to the lessons if they are reinforced with technological and digital tools (Al-Mahdi, Al-Hattami & Fawzi, 2018).
While studies on technology-based assessment were directed towards the use of computer programs until the end of the 1990s. Since the 2000s, it has become internet-based. The spread of the Internet has made material distribution easier, reaching more people, and time-space independence (Reiss & Reips, 2016).
Has the Conventional Schools Place in the Future?
When we look at the development of the concept of school historically, it is seen that there is a need for an institutional school and an education system to train the human type needed with the industrial revolution. The education process, which could be carried out in a master-apprentice relationship in agricultural societies, had to reach wider masses due to the increase in production. Information produced more slowly than today could be transferred to students in this traditional school system. Today, it seems impossible to give the rapidly increasing information in teacher-student communication and in the form of the teacher being the source of information. Will this lead to the disappearance of schools? It is accepted by everyone that a technological and pedagogical transformation has begun and it will inevitably continue. However, we still need the school.
Berge (2000) states that teacher and student communication is provided through technology in synchronous online lessons. While these face-to-face lessons require many materials such as blackboard, chalk, books, notebooks and pencils, technology can eliminate most of them. Moreover, students can access the lessons later if they are registered. However, although there is an interaction, it is also a matter of debate whether it is of quality as in a normal classroom setting.
In a traditional classroom setting, the teacher instantly evaluates the students' situations from their behavior and other non-verbal cues. Thanks to these perceptions about whether his students are bored, whether he understands the subject or his current mental state, he can reach him more. It can improve the quality of teaching by completing the missing points. While the success of the student in the classroom environment depends on his characteristics, in online classes, the student must have a technological infrastructure and be sufficient to use technological tools (Bakerson, Trottier & Mansfield, 2015).
The fact that the transition process from face-to-face education to online education was faster than expected has made it challenging for teachers to design lessons or adapt their lesson plans in face-to-face education to online lessons. The most common difficulty was that the opportunities brought by interaction and cooperation in face-to-face lessons could not be realized in online education (Lock & Redmond, 2015).