Theme Introduction: Digital Assessment

Abstract

Over the past several decades, educators and researchers have searched for ways of assessing students’ knowledge and skills. Assessment can serve many purposes, from helping students identify gaps in their own knowledge and understanding to a summative use at the end of a course or program. The pandemic has increasingly prompted instructors to turn to digital methods of assessment, and they were challenged to translate their original forms of assessment to digital formats or to develop entirely new assessment modes. This theme is focused on the emerging practices and trends in using digital assessment to support student learning in chemistry. Digital assessment was growing in application prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, suggesting that digital methods were already being used to support both learners’ and instructors’ needs. The authors in this theme investigate how digital assessment addresses these various needs. This includes exploring features that can be manipulated in digital assessment, such as varying the method and timing of providing feedback to students, and research on whether teachers feel prepared to create and implement digital assessment and how to support teachers in developing these essential skills.