New Trends Of Measurement And Assessment In Distance Education

Distance education is a discipline that offers solutions to some important education problems. Distance education, contribute to the solution to the problems such as; inequality of opportunities, lifelong education, the implementation of a series of individual and social goals that can contribute to and benefit from educational technology and self-learning. In distance education, methods of measurement and assessment must be consistent with the objectives and contents of teaching. A major interest of formative assessment is determining the students’ learning level of each behavior in the interested unit. In summative assessment, performances of students on some units are measured broader than formative assessment. A computerized adaptive testing, CAT, is the test managed by computer in which each item is introduced and the decision to stop are dynamically imposed based on the students answers and his/her estimated knowledge level. In CAT applications, students do not take the same test. Despite item numbers and properties of items are different for the students; the precise of measures improves in positioning students on an ability or success continuum in CAT applications. In CAT applications, questions answered by a student depend on the student's ability or learning level. In item response theory, there are some models to estimate a student’s ability level, such as three-parameter logistic model. Cheating in exams or other academic assignments can be defined as use resources not allowed to use or having someone else to take exams or assignments. Some precautions must be taken about cheating such as a live proctoring, using web cams, and using a plagiarism detection program.