There has been a lot of talk about elearning assessments. But what should be the passing score in such assessments? The instructional designers(ID) insist on 80%. But is it that necessary?

The basic parameter is that the learning objectives (LOs) should be set and hence the questions in an elearning assessment should check how many of these objectives has the learner met.

When the questions are not related to the learning objectives, it can’t be gauged whether the course is effectual or not.
Therefore every ID has to establish some LOs first and then proceed according to them. Afterward, you should formulate the quiz questions and then check whether the content adheres to these objectives or not.

Difference between enabling and terminal objectives

Learning objectives can be classified into two types, based on what they do, such as terminal objectives and enabling objectives. Enabling Objectives form the core of elearning.

They refer to the objectives which the learner must meet to be considered sufficient to fulfill terminal objectives. For example, if the terminal objective or the end goal of a course is to make the learner learn how to bake the cake, then the enabling objective is to see that he knows how to operate an oven and setting the right temperature for different dishes.

The SME can make sure that the questions can be segregated into three different levels, based on how difficult they are. These levels are the kind of risks involved in the job. So, a question can be given a high rating based on how risky the job is. Sometimes, the importance of the question might be high depending on its criticality in the job.

But this kind of differentiating job in elearning can involve a lot of effort from the SMEs who can guide multimedia developers about it.

There should be different points for different kinds of questions. The points are assigned based on the difficulty level of the questions. For example, basic questions can be given lesser points just like the intermediate questions. But the advanced questions should be given more points so that when a learner does not attempt them correctly in an elearning assessment, he fails the test.

He has to start over the course again, or he can be guided to those sections of the module about the advanced questions. All this programming can be easily done by a multimedia developer.

So, the learner who can answer all the advanced questions correctly gets a high score on the test. The multimedia developers can also decide whether the questions are changed depending on the number of times the user has performed the test. He can be given tougher questions as per his attempts at the test.

So, this is how an elearning assessment can make sure that you hire the right candidate for a job.