by Desiree’ Caldwell, Ed.D., Assistant Professor in the Master Teacher & Special Education Program at Gwynedd Mercy University
Desiree’s teaching experience spans 15 years at the elementary and middle school levels with 5 of those years also being spent as an adjunct professor in the Master Teacher program at Gwynedd Mercy University before becoming a full-time faculty member. Her research interests include effective online teaching strategies, faculty development for online instructors, and tracking the progress of student teachers from the beginning of their journey through their first few years of teaching. Her publications include various book reviews and two chapters, which she co-wrote with her colleagues, in the book titled Handbook of Research on Creating Meaningful Experiences in Online Courses.
Effective assessment strategies are important in all types of classrooms, but specifically in the asynchronous online classroom, simply because it is the only way the instructor can determine if the student grasped the content provided. Not being able to see students in real time presents a challenge when it comes to formative assessment. New assessment strategies are not always easy to implement if instructors are provided with an online course that has already been designed. Instructors are challenged to move beyond the typical online assessments such as discussion forums and papers and implement more engaging and thought-provoking assessments such as choice boards and role-play. These assessment strategies can also increase student motivation and engagement, all of which are pieces of the pie for enhanced, meaningful student learning.