Online Discussion Evaluation Models

When reading about the alternative models of assessment and the online environment assessment tools, I have always wondered how the online discussion forums would be assessed. This section was the answer to the question. In this section, the learners are introduced to the various models of assessing online discussion. In all the readings, I was able to read about 13 models of evaluating online discussion forums. All these forums can be divided into three big categories, based on what they are designed to measure:

Interactions: this measures learner-to-learner interactions and learner-to-instructor interactions such as, Henri's Interactive Framework (1992) and Gunawardena, Lowe and Anderson (1998).

Cognitive Processes: this is expected to measure the learning that has taken place in the forum using models such as Henri's Cognitive Framework (1992) and Newman, Webb and Cochrane (1997)

Assessing Online Learners' Role would use models such as Kirkley, Savery and Grabner-Hagen (1998).

This assignment was done as a power-point presentation using Skype. I had a hectic time for this assignment because of serious conflicts with my official and primary assignment. It was tough and it was like passing through hell. I believe the very low grade I have here is a reflection of the pressures of that time. The power-presentation can be viewed here:

Online Discussion Evaluation Models I

Online Discussion Models Evaluation II


One of the major problems I have here is that the presentation did not upload as a single file despite the fact that it has only a total of 53 slides and not up to 1MB in size. After hours of inability to upload this file, I decided to split it to two files (Part I carrying 26 slides and Part II carrying 27 slides). It was easy for me to upload the Part II but I had problems uploading the Part I again. This time, I felt the slide design I used must be heavy and decided to change the slide designs and this is when I was able to upload the two files.