Assessment in Online Learning Environments: Facilitators and Hindrances Marius Boboc Department of Curriculum and Foundations Cleveland State University United States m.boboc@csuohio.edu Ronald S. Beebe Department of Curriculum and Foundations Cleveland State University United States r.beebe1@csuohio.edu Selma Vonderwell Department of Curriculum and Foundations Cleveland State University United States s.vonderwell@csuohio.edu Abstract: This study explores the facilitators and hindrances in faculty use of assessment in online learning environments by making comparisons to traditional, face-to-face classroom settings. The grounded theory approach is employed for the analysis of data involving online course instructors at two higher education institutions. Preliminary findings indicate that time management, the complexity of the course content, the structure of the online medium, and student accountability for learning influence assessment of learning in the online environment. At the same time, informal assessment is found to be a challenge in the online environment. Understanding facilitators and hindrances in the assessment of online learning can inform future development of formative and summative assessment strategies and tools. Educational institutions are increasingly adopting and implementing online learning. The rapidly expanding use of online education in K-12 education, two-year college and four-year university classes has been documented by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES, 2003). As this trend is expected to continue, educators, researchers, and instructional designers are faced with the question of understanding the pedagogical implications of the format and dynamics of online learning environments on assessment practices. Questions such as how assessment of online learning differs from traditional assessment, what assessment techniques and criteria faculty use, and how online assessment influences faculty practice need to be investigated. There is a vital link among assessment, learning, and teaching. Angelo and Cross (1993) state that good teaching encompasses good assessment. Black and William (1998) define assessment broadly to include all activities that teachers and students undertake to get information that can be used diagnostically to alter teaching and learning. Under this definition, assessment implies teacher observation, classroom discussion, and analysis of student work such as group work, projects, and tests. Assessment, either formative or summative, plays an important role in the learning process by determining progress and furthering learning. Elwood and Klenowski (2002) believe there is a distinction between “ assessment of learning” (assessment for the purposes of grading and reporting with its own established procedures) and “ assessment for learning” (assessment whose purpose is to enable students, through effective feedback, to fully understand their own learning and the goals for which they are aiming).