Web-facilitated and blended instructional delivery models have been gaining momentum in education. The power, accessibility, and complexity of online learning have placed increased pressure on the development of effective online assessment, which should always guide instructional decisions (Okolo, 2011). One component of online learning is formative and summative assessment—the knowledge students acquire during the learning process and the knowledge students have after instruction of a content area. Online assessment presents several challenges and barriers to instructors.

Courtney L. McLaughlin, PhD, NCSP, is certified as a school psychologist by the Pennsylvania Department of Education and the National School Psychology Certification Board. Currently, she is an assistant professor in the Educational and School Psychology Department at Indiana University of Pennsylvania. Dr. McLaughlin has published and presented on topics including school-based mental health, cognitive-behavioral therapy, children and adolescents at risk, social emotional disorders, stress, standardized testing, disproportionality, and the training of future school psychologists. She utilizes a blended instructional delivery model with the courses she teaches at IUP.

 

Jonathan R. Brown, PhD, is a professor at Clarion University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Brown is a graduate of the Pennsylvania State University with an emphasis in audiology, acoustical physics, and statistics. He teaches measurement and assessment to senior undergraduate secondary-education majors and research and statistics to graduate students. His courses are taught, in whole or in part, online. His area of research, presentations, and publications is in theoretical and applied statistical analysis of measurement instruments.