Online Tutoring Assessment Strategies 4 â Questions and Answers
Question 1: An online tutor wants to assess whether a student can transfer math skills to unfamiliar word problems. Which Bloom's Taxonomy level is being targeted?
- Remember
- Understand
- Apply (Correct answer)
- Evaluate
Correct answer: Apply
Applying known skills to new, unfamiliar problems corresponds to the Apply level of Bloom's Taxonomy.
Question 2: What is the key difference between a norm-referenced and a criterion-referenced assessment result?
- Norm-referenced tells you what a student knows; criterion-referenced tells you how they rank
- Norm-referenced compares a student to peers; criterion-referenced measures against a fixed standard (Correct answer)
- Criterion-referenced is always more accurate
- Norm-referenced is only used in standardized testing
Correct answer: Norm-referenced compares a student to peers; criterion-referenced measures against a fixed standard
Norm-referenced results rank students relative to a group, while criterion-referenced results measure mastery of defined standards.
Question 3: A tutor gives a student the same passage to read twiceâonce before tutoring and once afterâand asks comprehension questions both times. What assessment design is this?
- Concurrent validity design
- Pre-test/post-test design measuring learning gains (Correct answer)
- Formative-only assessment
- Summative benchmark testing
Correct answer: Pre-test/post-test design measuring learning gains
Administering equivalent assessments before and after instruction is a pre-test/post-test design used to measure learning gains.
Question 4: Which behavior during a virtual tutoring session should prompt a tutor to conduct an immediate informal assessment?
- The student completes practice problems quickly and correctly
- The student provides vague or inconsistent answers to follow-up questions (Correct answer)
- The student asks a clarifying question about the assignment
- The student takes notes during the explanation
Correct answer: The student provides vague or inconsistent answers to follow-up questions
Vague or inconsistent follow-up answers are a signal of unclear understanding that warrants an immediate probe.
Question 5: A tutor uses guided questioning to determine exactly where a student's understanding breaks down on a multi-step problem. This technique is best described as:
- Summative evaluation
- Error analysis through targeted probing (Correct answer)
- Peer assessment
- Portfolio review
Correct answer: Error analysis through targeted probing
Targeted probing through guided questions allows a tutor to pinpoint the precise step where a student's understanding breaks down.
Question 6: When designing assessments for asynchronous online tutoring, what is the most important consideration?
- Keeping all assessments under five minutes
- Ensuring questions are clear and self-explanatory since the tutor won't be present to clarify (Correct answer)
- Using only video-recorded responses
- Requiring students to complete tasks without any reference materials
Correct answer: Ensuring questions are clear and self-explanatory since the tutor won't be present to clarify
Asynchronous assessments must be self-contained because students cannot ask real-time clarifying questions.
Question 7: A student scores 85% on a practice test but cannot explain the reasoning behind their correct answers. How should the tutor interpret this result?
- The student has mastered the material
- The score may overestimate true understanding; deeper probing is needed (Correct answer)
- The test was too easy
- The student is being dishonest
Correct answer: The score may overestimate true understanding; deeper probing is needed
Correct answers without explanatory reasoning may indicate guessing or pattern matching rather than genuine conceptual mastery.
Online Tutoring Assessment Strategies 4
An online tutor wants to assess whether a student can transfer math skills to unfamiliar word problems.
Which Bloom's Taxonomy level is being targeted?