Introduction

=**INTRODUCTION**= = = [| Assessment] is an educational term that has many meanings. Traditionally, assessment has meant sitting through a paper and pencil exam in some form, be it multiple choice, essay, matching, true/false, or fill-in-the-blank. While traditional assessment does hold a place in the classroom, there are many other types of assessment activities that yield rich information about student understanding and, when used properly, serve to enhance the learning process itself.

Opportunities to measure student learning exist free of the confines of a class, school, or even country, have grown with the explosion of [| Web 2.0] technologies. Utilizing online assessment tools, such as online reflective journals, surveys, and social networking platforms gives the instructor the ability to peer into the learning experience of the student and determine if true understanding is evident. These tools are especially useful in an online teaching environment, because they facilitate student collaboration, information collection and analysis, and reflection on the learning experience.

In this toolbox we have investigated:


 * Edmodo : A social networking platform built for education and safe for younger students


 * Survey Monkey : A free site that allows the creation of online surveys


 * LiveJournal : A free web journaling site that is a hybrid of a blogging site and a social network.