Online Testing

This is the time of year for state End of Course Tests and for course final exams. Some Georgia schools require students to take their Georgia Virtual course exams in a proctored setting, though the exams are designed to be taken online without any proctoring. Most schools do not require proctoring.

Here is the question. Do you think a good test requiring some higher order thinking can be designed to accurately reflect a student's mastery of the performance standards in an online class? Most Georgia Virtual exams rely on the time limitation to assure students actually know their material. Do you think this works?

The required state test in some subjects means a student not living in Georgia must come to Georgia on a particular day to take his Georgia End of Course Test. Since this is administered online, it seems to me the test could be taken anywhere there is a suitable proctor and an Internet connected computer. However, both the state and Pearson, the testing company, prohibit students from taking these tests outside of the state. If you are from another state, how does your state online program deal with this issue and other testing situations?

Getting Started

Welcome to the very first posting on our new Georgia Virtual School blog, Virtuality. We hope those of you who are following us on Twitter (gavirtual) or who are taking Georgia Virtual School classes will also follow the updates on our blog.

Members of the Georgia Virtual community will be the authors of the postings on this blog. Look for updates every week or so. We hope you will comment on our postings and that we can spark some lively discussions about our program.