Elena Barberà Gregori (UOC)
& Cristóbal Suárez-Guerrero (Universidad de Valencia)
Assessment is an inherently human activity, one that we never stop doing. We assess when we compare product prices, when we weigh opportunities, when we analyse results and their consequences, when we form an opinion of people, etc. Assessment is not only a constant but a crucial part of life, as we base all our decisions on it.
Within the framework of formal education, assessment, in all its forms, acts as a regulatory mechanism that provides a means for effectively determining the performance and outcome of educational processes. This mechanism is extremely delicate insofar as it creates a sequence of actions and decisions mediated by external instruments that aim to observe and record educational quality. Among all the variables bound up in the concept of educational quality, the technological or online variable has become particularly prominent as of late.
Assessment is also a sophisticated mechanism because it addresses different levels of action that, in turn, have different emphases and responsibilities. So, when we talk about educational assessment, we are referring to a framework that includes, among others, the institutional level (assessment of educational centres), the curricular level (assessment of programmes), the infrastructural level (assessment of resources) and, of course, the instructional level (assessment of learning and teaching). The situation is more complex when this educational framework operates in online environments, which until recently were rarely present in education and society. In light of newly emerging online frameworks, it is also necessary to rethink assessment processes, their mechanisms and their consequences.
In today's digital society, educational assessment has an undeniable social, professional and personal importance. As a decisive process that is inseparable from teaching and learning, assessment raises a large number of challenges when it is associated with the progressive uptake of digital technology. Such uptake should be approached as a unique, continuous, ethically driven challenge in educational and social transformation.
Indeed, beyond verifying achievements, corroborating value judgements, gaining objective snapshots or agglutinating huge volumes of data, digital technologies offer a series of virtues that lend themselves to the fulfilment of educational demands in the quest for educational quality. We also understand that their application entails certain risks, which must also be explained with equal clarity. The assessment of online education and the digitization of assessment are ineluctable stages of development that education must take into account in the process of understanding the potential and the risks of technology from the educational psychology viewpoint. Pretending that such an educational challenge does not exist is not a proper solution.
It is within this framework in which we propose to explore, in this RIED monograph and with the greatest possible academic rigour, the degree to which new knowledge is aligned with the assessment needs of the educational community, using technology developed in online, blended or on-site environments to bring about its transfer and consolidation.
Specifically, research papers revolving around the following themes will be accepted for consideration:
- Assessment of the previously mentioned levels of educational assessment (institutional, curricular, infrastructural and instructional) within the framework of programmes or institutions that rely on digital technologies.
- Use of digital technologies, to determine whether they are cutting edge or show a high level of use in a particular aspect, whether on site or online.
Here are some of the subject areas, based on online, distance, hybrid, m-learning or face-to-face systems using ICTs, that the monograph wishes to address:
- Assessment of learning in times of lockdown
- Advanced assessment of learning
- Assessment of teachers, programmes and institutions
- Assessment of online platforms, materials and resources
- Assessment via social media
- Digital assessment instruments: e-activities, e-rubrics, etc.
- Big data and assessment of learning
- Learning automation and personalization
- REA quality standards
- Online experience quality standards
- Validation of digital learning assessment tools
- Assessment of digital competences
- Learning assessment via algorithms
Important for submitting papers
- Paper publication and access is free and open to all.
- The papers must be submitted through the RIED website.
- The manuscripts should have a maximum length of 7,000 words, including abstract, notes and references.
- The papers may be published in Spanish, Portuguese or English.
- All papers must comply with RIED regulations, templates and criteria.
Deadline for receiving papers: all originals must be registered on the platform before 15 December 2020.
Contact Information
If you have any questions about this special issue, please contact the coordinators:
Elena Barberà Gregori: ebarbera@uoc.edu
Cristóbal Suárez Guerrero: Cristobal.Suarez@uv.es
