Though in the past online learning was considered of poorer professional quality than classroom learning, it has become a useful and, in some cases, vital tool for promoting the inclusivity of education. Some of its benefits include allowing greater accessibility to educational resources previously unattainable by those in rural areas, and in current times, it has proven to be a critical asset as universities shut down due to natural disasters and pandemics. Examining the current state of distance learning and determining online assessment tools and processes that can enhance the online learning experience are clearly crucial for the advancement of modern education. The Handbook of Research on Determining the Reliability of Online Assessment and Distance Learning is a collection of pioneering investigations on the methods and applications of digital technologies in the realm of education. It provides a clear and extensive analysis of issues regarding online learning while also offering frameworks to solve these addressed problems. Moreover, the book reviews and evaluates the present and intended future of distance learning, focusing on the societal and employer perspective versus the academic proposals. While highlighting topics including hybrid teaching, blended learning, and telelearning, this book is ideally designed for teachers, academicians, researchers, educational administrators, and students.

With the rapid proliferation of distance education and e-learning courses, the need is growing for a comprehensive, professional approach to evaluating their effectiveness. This indispensable book offers a road map to guide evaluation practice in these innovative learning environments. Providing practical, step-by-step guidelines and tools for conducting evaluation studies—including how to deal with stakeholders, develop surveys and interview protocols, collect other scientific evidence, and analyze and blend mixed-methods data—the work also features a template for writing high-quality reports. The "unfolding model" developed by the authors draws on Messick's influential assessment framework and applies it to program evaluation. Two case studies of actual programs (a distance learning course and an e-learning course) demonstrate the unfolding model in action.

Assessment has provided educational institutions with information about student learning outcomes and the quality of education for many decades. But has it informed practice and been fully incorporated into the learning cycle? Conrad and Openo argue that the potential inherent in many of the new learning environments being explored by educators and students has not been fully realized. In this investigation of a variety of assessment methods and learning approaches, the authors aim to discover the tools that engage learners and authentically evaluate education. They insist that moving to new learning environments, specifically those online and at a distance, afford opportunities for educators to adopt only the best practices of traditional face-to-face assessment while exploring evaluation tools made available by a digital learning environment in the hopes of arriving at methods that capture the widest set of learner skills and attributes.

"This comprehensive, six-volume collection addresses all aspects of online and distance learning, including information communication technologies applied to education, virtual classrooms, pedagogical systems, Web-based learning, library information systems, virtual universities, and more. It enables libraries to provide a foundational reference to meet the information needs of researchers, educators, practitioners, administrators, and other stakeholders in online and distance learning"--Provided by publisher.

The face of education is constantly being transformed due to rapid changes in technology. It is imperative that leadership trends and techniques be evaluated in the educational field, particularly in reference to alternative learning programs. Administrative Leadership in Open and Distance Learning Programs is a pivotal scholarly resource that discusses emerging issues surrounding the administration of non-traditional education practices. Highlighting relevant topics that include policy development, quality assurance, accreditation, and assessment systems, this publication is an ideal reference source for educators, academicians, graduate students, and researchers that are interested in the progression of open and distance education.

Universities across the globe are attempting to change assessment practices to address challenges in student engagement and achievement and to respond to a global employability agenda demanding evidence of a broader range of skills and competencies. In the UK this has acquired urgency given the shift of higher education over the last 20 years from the prerogative of an elite minority to mass participation in a highly diversified market system. Integral to this interrogation of objectives for assessment is the identified need to develop and improve academics’ assessment practice. Strategies frequently focus on attendance at formal Continuous Professional Development events and/or implementation of institutional blueprints. This book showcases how scholarship as part of academics’ practice can be part of an academic toolkit for change that expands awareness and knowledge of the purposes and effects of the pedagogy of assessment. The case studies – ranging from assessment in Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), to assessment design for students whose first language is not English, to the effectiveness of peer learning to support academic integrity and programme-level assessment strategies – are framed by an introduction that explores a ‘communities of practice’ approach to the institution-wide improvement of assessment. It argues – through a case study from The Open University (OU) – that academics’ professional expertise is best deepened through participation in authentic activities of teaching and scholarship. The discussion identifies what is involved in such an approach including the role of an enabling principles-based framework, the constraints on implementation, and the implications for leaders of teaching and learning. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Open Learning journal.

"The book provides A guidelines approach on how to implement the proposed theory and tools in e-learning programs"--Provided by publisher.