Hi Laura,

I think the idea of a tryout period that Marie mentioned is a good one.  We
also recommend careful pre-screening.  During the first round of Project
IDEAL experiments, several states opened their distance programs to any and
all who expressed interest.  This approach proved problematic in many
cases‹students whose skills, abilities, and/or dispositions didn¹t match
well with distance study quickly became frustrated. As a result, drop-out
rates were high.   Programs discovered that they needed to carefully
pre-screen students in several arenas to ensure a good fit.  Many now begin
by surveying students on their learning styles and preferences, time
management skills, and motivation, using their responses as a jumping off
point to talk about what distance study entails.   Once some students
understand what¹s involved in being a distance learner, they realize a
classroom program makes more sense for them.  Prescreening also includes
assessing students¹ technology skills and access as well as their basic
literacy skills.  This combination of pre-assessments helps teachers better
determine (1) which students are potentially good candidates for distance
and (2) what, if any, baseline training is needed.

These days, there are a variety of ³is distance learning for me?²
self-assessments available online for students.  I¹ve included a sample of
some I¹ve come across to give you an idea of what types of topics/issues
distance programs are addressing.

Guilford Technical Community College
(http://www.gtcc.cc.nc.us/distance/dlForMe.html)
--An original and entertaining approach to helping students determine
whether distance learning makes sense for them.
 
Student Online Readiness Tool (SORT)  http://www.alt.usg.edu/sort/
--Six section self-assessment created by the University System of Georgia
designed to help students determine whether they should study online.  The
six areas are: Technology experience, access to tools, study habits,
lifestyle, goals and purposes, and learning preferences.
 
Online Readiness Quiz (http://www.pima.edu/cgi-bin/onlineReadiness/quiz.pl)

--This 41-item quiz from Pima Community College assesses potential distance
students in four areas:  computer and technology skills, time management,
learning environment, and study and reading skills.

Minnesota Virtual University:  Are Distance Learning Courses for You?
(http://www.mnvu.org/mnvu/5102.jsp)

--Provides a computer scored self-assessment for distance learners.

Shannon

On 7/11/07 11:47 AM, "Marie Cora" <marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com> wrote:


> Hi Laura, Welcome and thanks for your question ­ which is an excellent one!

> I¹m also looking forward to hearing from subscribers on this question.

>  

> Some discussion on this can be found in one of the suggested resources,

> entitled ³Pre-assessments for on-line learning².  Go to:

> http://dev.nifl.gov/lincs/discussions/assessment/07assess_distance_1.html

>  

> The information in the discussion opens with a focus on ³wait periods² or

> ³tryout periods² so that prospective students can self-determine their ability

> and commitment, but it winds around to discuss assessing skills that people

> need to engage in technology and distance learning.

>  

> I¹d be very much interested in what List Subscribers think about that

> discussion and Laura¹s questions below.

>  

> Marie Cora

> Assessment Discussion List Moderator

>  

>  

> -----Original Message-----

> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On

> Behalf Of Laura Chenven

> Sent: Wednesday, July 11, 2007 10:45 AM

> To: The Assessment Discussion List

> Subject: [Assessment 842] Re: Questions for discussion

>  

> Let me raise another question.  I am new to this list so it may be something

> that many of you have already discussed.

>  

> I work with a national labor/management partnership that supports training and

> education for the incumbent healthcare workforce.  We are supporting several

> distance learning and hybrid nursing programs.  Because these programs are

> asynchronous for the most part and can fit into many workers busy schedules,

> there is a great deal of interest in them.  However, because we realize that

> distance learning may not be the best modality for everyone, we want to be

> able to be able to screen for students who are most likely to be successful in

> this kind of program and also pinpoint other students who may be successful

> with some extra help up front.

>  

> I'd love to hear others experiences with this type of screening.  Do you find

> it necessary? Is it helpful?  What have you learned.

> I'm looking forward to hearing from you.

>  

> Laura Chenven

> H-CAP National Coordinator

> 202 257-7108

> lchenven at 1199etjsp.org

>  

> 

> 

> From: assessment-bounces at nifl.gov [mailto:assessment-bounces at nifl.gov] On

> Behalf Of Marie Cora

> Sent: Tuesday, July 10, 2007 10:34 AM

> To: Assessment at nifl.gov

> Subject: [Assessment 834] Questions for discussion

> Hi everyone,

>  

> It¹s very quiet out there!  I¹ve had many new subscribers join our List, so I

> know this is of interest to you all.   I know you have questions and I know

> you have experiences to share. Please post them now!

>  

> Here is one of my questions for this discussion, which actually has already

> been asked within the suggested preparations by our guests Shannon and

> Jennifer:

>  

> Post-testing:  How is this done?  How do you get that important follow-up

> measure from students?  I have experience in DL within professional

> development only (not with ABE/ESOL students) ­ and I know how difficult

> follow-up is with the professional population.  The same goes for regular

> classroom-based programs ­ getting full test scores can be really hard.  So I

> am extremely interested in hearing from folks about the strategies and methods

> they use to get DL students to complete the full cycle including the

> post-test.

>  

> Do federal requirements allow for any flexibility/creativity in this regard?

> Can you use formative assessment and other types of measures to help

> demonstrate achievement?

>  

> Do Project IDEAL states do their assessment in the same way, or are you able

> to alter your approach depending on certain things (levels of funding; timing;

> some F2F (³face-to-face²)/no F2F; staffing; etc)?

>  

> Thanks!!

> 

> 

> Marie Cora

>  

>  

>  

> Marie Cora

> marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com <mailto:marie.cora at hotspurpartners.com>

> NIFL Assessment Discussion List Moderator

> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment

> Coordinator, LINCS Assessment Special Collection

> http://literacy.kent.edu/Midwest/assessment/

>  

>  

> 

> .

> 

> .

> 

> 

> -------------------------------

> National Institute for Literacy

> Assessment mailing list

> Assessment at nifl.gov

> To unsubscribe or change your subscription settings, please go to

> http://www.nifl.gov/mailman/listinfo/assessment

> Email delivered to shannony at umich.edu



-- 
Shannon J. Young
Program Manager, Project IDEAL / AdultEd Online
Senior Research Area Specialist, Program on Teaching, Learning, & Technology
Institute for Social Research, The University of Michigan
    
5116 ISR, 426 Thompson Street, Ann Arbor, MI  48106-1248
Ph:         (734) 763-5325
Fax:       (734) 615-6638
Email:     shannony at umich.edu
Websites:      http://projectideal.org      http://www.adultedonline.org

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