"Assessment of student achievement is changing, largely because today's students face a world that will demand new knowledge and abilities. In the global economy of the 21st century, students will need to understand the basics, but also to think critically, to analyze, and to make inferences. Helping students develop these skills will require changes in assessment at the school and classroom level, as well as new approaches to large-scale, high-stakes assessment."
--Linda Ann Bond (1995), director of assessment, North Central Regional Educational Laboratory


What I find most interesting about learner demographics is that the number of adult learners is increasing so fast that they're beginning to outpace traditional age higher education learners in shear numbers. This doesn't take into account all the continuing ed and training that's also going on online (the ring I throw my hat into).

With these vast numbers of adult learners entering and reentering the online higher education and training arena the need to find ways to meaningfully assess adult learners is very important. Adult learners are, after all, in search of knowledge that will improve their lives, careers, and earning potential. Those goals are much higher for adult learners than simply attaining a grade or even a degree. Assessment therefore needs to be designed to not only show course success, but also help adult learners attain the knowledge they seek.

I predict that assessment will become a part of the actual course material, not just a way to ascertain whether the course goals and objectives were met. Hands-on, useful assessments, like projects and assignments that require critical thinking, analyses, and inference skills, will become the educational norm. The challenge isn't getting the learners to comply with a new assessment style and model; I think adult learners really want this type of assessment today. Rather, the challenge will be getting institutions and governments to alter their traditions. Intuitional change being so difficult (talk about a tradition!), more and more adult learning is going to begin taking place outside of traditional higher education institutions.

Here are some assessment resources to help you develop meaningful adult learner online and distance learning assessment:

Evaluating online learning by Clive Shepherd

Center for Assessment: The National Center for the Improvement of Educational Assessment

Internet Resources for Higher Education Outcomes Assessment, NC State University