How To Use Exams And Certification For eLearning Assessment

eLearning Assessment: How To Use Exams And Certification For Assessing eLearning Performance

Depending on your objectives, assessing learner progress can be the most critical phase of delivering training programs. If you're working to meet internal or external compliance requirements, you'll need to formally track evaluation and assessment. Or you may be more interested in using eLearning assessment to measure course effectiveness for your own improvement purposes. In both cases, exams and certification can be very useful for motivating learners and assessing what they've retained after completing your course. In this article, I list some quick and easy ways to combine exams and certification to deliver successful learning outcomes.

How To Use Exams For eLearning Assessment

Depending on the functionality of your LMS, exams can be a highly effective tool for testing learner knowledge. At LearnUpon, for example, customers use exams to knowledge check learner understanding of course content and to reinforce key takeaways. The type of exam an admin creates usually depends on what they want to assess and their reasons for assessment. If you're interested in using exams to assess eLearning, consider:

• Creating question pools.
  Using question pools is the most efficient way to manage content for multiple ongoing exams. LearnUpon's LMS makes it easy to group and store questions that relate to a specific course or subject, like "Health and Safety Basics" or "Introduction to Energy Efficiency", for example. Using pools is a simple way to manage all questions that relate to a course together and edit the content of each exam as you need. Once you've created a pool, questions can be reused in whatever combination you like, for whichever courses you plan to assess.
• Selecting question types.
  To manage eLearning assessment well, an LMS should support a wide range of question types that can be added to a pool. LearnUpon allows you to choose from eight question types: True/false, pick one, multiple correct answer, image based, video based, list matching, sequencing, and fill in the blank. Most admins combine a number of the following in each exam:
  • Pick one.
    This question type directs learners to select one correct option from a list of radio buttons that can be labelled A, B, C, D. You can offer as many options as you like but only one will be marked correct.
  • Multiple correct answer.
    This option allows a question to have more than one correct answer with learners directed to select all options that apply.
  • Image question.
    This type allows you to upload an image and ask a question that relates to it, for example: "Name the area highlighted on the map." You can add as many potential answers as you need and learners will be directed to pick one or more correct answers.
  • Video question.
    This type allows you to embed a video which the learner is asked to watch first and then answer a question based on what was shown in the video, e.g. “How many safety violations did you spot in the video clip?”
  • Order list.
    With this type of question, learners are asked to position related options in the correct order, for example: "Arrange the following cities in order starting with the most populated and ending with the least populated?". Learners drag and drop the options around until they're ready to submit the answer.
  • Match list.
    This question type allows you to create two lists of items, which the learner will be asked to pair, for example: “Match the city to the country”.
  • Fill in the blank.
    If you choose to create this question type in LearnUpon, you'll include one or more blank spaces or placeholders. When you add a placeholder, a text box appears that allows you to type in the correct answer or a set of options the learner will be asked to choose from.

When you create a question in LearnUpon, it's stored in a pool that can be easily accessed through your library.

• Select your exam options.
  After you've created a question pool, you can tailor each exam with a wide range of options, including:
  • Exclude questions from an exam.
    When you link a pool to an exam, you can define a specific number of questions that will be selected at random. Any question from the pool may then be included in the exam. You can also specify particular questions that you want to include or exclude. That flexibility gives you full control over the content of an exam and the extent of randomization involved. That will be useful if you need to ensure that learners receive a different set of questions when re-attempting an exam.
  • Use knowledge check.
    If you flag an exam as a knowledge check, it won't count towards a learner's overall pass or fail grade for a course. You can use knowledge check assessments during a course to help learners test their understanding of content without being penalized.
  • Submit options.
    LearnUpon offers multiple options that allow you to control what happens when a learner submits an exam. You can decide to tell a learner that they've passed or failed, show them correct answers, or display feedback on answers. Be careful when deciding to display correct answers or feedback on exams where learners are allowed multiple attempts. Some will make a note of the answers and make sure they get 100% on the next attempt.
  • Set a time limit.
    You can also specify the length of time learners are allocated to complete an exam. You can then choose to display a countdown warning after a set length of time. The exam will be auto-submitted once the countdown clock hits zero.

Learn more: Why Learning Credits should be a key feature of your LMS

How To Use Certification For eLearning Assessment

Exams are useful both for assessing how learners are progressing with your courses and helping you to meet compliance requirements. Certification can be used in combination with exams to incentivize learner participation and success. Awarding a learner a certificate when they successfully complete a course gives them a tangible reward that can be used to promote your courses. LearnUpon makes it easy to import and customize certificates that can be linked to courses and learning paths. When a learner completes a certified course, they are automatically awarded a certificate they can print, download, or share through their social networks. If you choose to use certification to incentivize eLearning, you should also consider:

• Allowing users to manage certificates themselves.
  At LearnUpon, we felt it was essential to allow learners to manage certification independently, without needing assistance from an admin, designer, or support rep. So we built an automated feature that's easy for learners to manage alone. Once you import a certificate into your LMS and link it to a course, learners who successfully reach completion will automatically receive one.
• Customizing certificates.
  LearnUpon's drag and drop functionality makes customizing certificates easy. Simply select the variables -like learner name, course title, date completed, number of CPD credits awarded, etc.- you want to include and drag and drop them onto your certificate. You can choose exactly where you want to position the variable and select font sizes to match the certificate's design. Each variable will dynamically update with learner and course details before it's awarded.
• Recertification.
  LearnUpon's recertification feature allows you to specify if learners are re-enrolled on a course if a certificate they were awarded is expiring. To use the feature, you need to specify the number of days after which a certificate expires. You can also schedule an email to automatically inform learners about recertification on a specific date.
• Encourage social sharing.
  LearnUpon's social features help users to share their successes and to promote your courses. Learners can add awarded certificates to their LinkedIn profile or tweet about completed courses. Research conducted by LinkedIn finds that users who display certification achievements receive six times more profile views than average. Every time a learner shares a certificate, it also helps to build awareness about your programs and give your marketing initiatives powerful social proof.

But exams and certification are just two features that make it easy to manage assessment for eLearning. For more information, schedule a call with a LearnUpon expert now.