Assessment in Massive Open Online Courses

Open online distance learning in higher education has quickly gained popularity, expanded, and evolved, with Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) as the most recent development. New web technologies allow for scalable ways to deliver video lecture content, implement social forums and track student progress in MOOCs. However, we remain limited in our ability to assess complex and open-ended student assignments. In this paper, we present a study on various forms of assessment and their relationship with the final exam score. In general, the reliability of both the self-assessments and the peer assessments was high. Based on low correlations with final exam grades as well as with other assessment forms, we conclude that self-assessments might not be a valid way to assess students' performance in MOOCs. Yet the weekly quizzes and peer assessment significantly explained differences in students' final exam scores, with one of the weekly quizzes as the strongest explanatory variable. We suggest that both self-assessment and peer assessment would better be used as assessment for learning instead of assessment of learning. Future research on MOOCs implies a reconceptualization of education variables, including the role of assessment of students' achievements.