Web-based dynamic assessment: Taking assessment as teaching and learning strategy for improving students’ e-Learning effectiveness Tzu-Hua Wang Department of Education, National Hsinchu University of Education, No. 521, Nanda Rd., Hsinchu City 300, Taiwan, ROC article info Article history: Received 8 February 2009 Received in revised form 14 October 2009 Accepted 2 November 2009 Keywords: Dynamic assessment e-Learning GPAM-WATA WATA system Web-based dynamic assessment Teaching/learning strategies abstract This research combines the idea of cake format dynamic assessment defined by Sternberg and Grigorenko (2001) and the ‘graduated prompt approach’ proposed by Campione and Brown (1985, 1987) to develop a multiple-choice Web-based dynamic assessment system. This research adopts a quasi-experimental design to investigate the effectiveness of this Web-based dynamic assessment system (GPAM-WATA) and normal Web-based test (N-WBT). One hundred and sixteen sixth grade elementary students from four classes participated in this research. These four classes were randomly divided into the GPAM-WATA group and N-WBT group. Before e-Learning instruction, all the students took the prior knowledge assess- ment and the pre-test of the summative assessment. After 2-week e-Learning instruction, all the students took the post-test of the summative assessment. The research findings show that students in the GPAM- WATA group experience better e-Learning effectiveness than those in the N-WBT group. GPAM-WATA is also found to be effective in improving the e-Learning effectiveness of students with low-level prior knowledge. Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. 1. Introduction In recent years, the rapid development of Internet communication technology (ICT) has made e-Learning an attractive alternative tool to facilitate learning (Bodzin & Cates, 2003; Wang, 2008). However, learners have to be responsible for their own learning in an e-Learning environment. Wang (2008) suggested that the idea of ‘assessment-centred learning environment’ proposed by Bransford, Brown, and Cock- ing (2000) could be applied to design an effective e-Learning environment to help learners carry out active learning. This research develops a Web-based assessment system and then uses this system to construct an assessment-centred e-Learning environment. The Web-based assessment system in this research is developed on the basis of dynamic assessment theory. Dynamic assessment has two major instructional characteristics. One is that dynamic assessment can provide individuals with an opportunity to learn (Bransford, Delclos, Vye, Burns, & Hasselbring, 1987). The other is that instruction and feedback are built into the testing process (Elliott, 2003). In educational psy- chology, the traditional use of dynamic assessment is to categorize examinees, help them choose the specific forms of mediation or training they need to receive, and predict their true ability (Elliott, 2003). However, it can also be integrated into school curriculum and instruction to assist teachers to teach and students to learn (Elliott, 2003; Haywood & Lidz, 2007, p. 177; Poehner, 2008, p. 20–21). Expecting dynamic assess- ment to effectively assist teachers to teach and learners to learn in an e-Learning environment, this research tries to combine the two major instructional characteristics of dynamic assessment and in turn propose the idea of ‘assessment as teaching and learning strategy’. In brief, the idea means that teaching and learning strategies revolve around a Web-based dynamic assessment, and the Web-based dynamic assessment is seamlessly combined with the teaching activities. In the process of taking the Web-based dynamic assessment, learning takes place through the guidance and instruction provided by the assessment. Please refer to Section 2.2 for more details. Based on the idea of ‘assessment as teaching and learning strategy’, this research develops the ‘Graduated Prompting Assessment Mod- ule of the WATA system (GPAM-WATA)’. It extends the ‘Web-based Assessment and Test Analysis system (WATA system) (Wang, Wang, Wang, Huang, & Chen, 2004; Wang, 2007, 2008)’ and uses the ‘graduated prompt approach (GPA)’ proposed by Campione and Brown (1985, 1987) as its theoretical basis. Please refer to Section 2.2 for more details about the ‘graduated prompt approach’. This research adopts the ‘graduated prompt approach’ because the approach is a leading way of administering dynamic assessment (Elliott, 2003) and its execution procedure can be standardized (Jitendra & Kameenui, 1993; Poehner, 2008, p. 50–51) to be applied to develop Web-based dynamic assess- ment. The ‘graduated prompt approach’ is mainly used in traditional teaching environments. It highlights the interaction between 0360-1315/$ - see front matter Ó 2009 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.compedu.2009.11.001 E-mail address: tzuhuawang@gmail.com Computers & Education 54 (2010) 1157–1166 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Computers & Education journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/compedu