TRANSFORMATIVE ASSESSMENT OF ONLINE EDUCATION

ABSTRACT/KEYWORDS The purpose of this paper is to present a follow up of a case study of an online education assessment program. The paper will summarize how current theories of transformative assessment, coupled with research on online education, were implemented over the last year to develop and sustain a scalable and quality online education program at UMass Lowell. Finally, the study will attempt to outline future challenges and opportunities for transformative assessment and online education. INTRODUCTION The public’s demand for accountability of online education continued to grow during the past year as competition increased from various sectors of higher education. While best practices in assessment strategies continue to evolve UMass Lowell took its assessment project to a new level in an initiative named the Assessment for Excellence Project . While the project has enabled the Division of Continuing Studies & Corporate Education (CSCE) to bring about continuous improvement or transformation of all its programs, this paper will focus on how the assessment project affected the online education program. In this paper we will describe: • How the theoretical framework presented at the ’03 Research Workshop of transformative assessment, was put into action in ‘04; • The impact of the Transformative Assessment Project on the University’s Online Education program; • Identify future challenges and opportunities with transformative assessment and online education.