© Baston

One major problem in online learning is the issue of testing. Without direct supervision, it is impossible to guarantee that a student is not cheating. Some online colleges solve this problem by requiring students to test under the direction of a proctor such as a librarian or other official. However, this method is often inconvenient and is not always effective (as we've seen when academically challenged college football stars get straight As in their online coursework, but fail their traditional classes). One option is open book testing.

Online professors can create timed, open book tests that are challenging and still require knowledge of the material to complete. There's no possibility of cheating, because students are allowed to use their study material. When open book exams are used, students should be be taught test-taking strategies so that everyone is on an equal playing field. A new study published in the Journal of Online Interactive Learning explains:

"This study investigated the impact of training in open book test-taking strategies on student test performance in online, timed, unproctored, open book tests. When the tutorial was required immediately before the midterm examination, the experimental group scored significantly higher than the control group. The effect size or magnitude of the difference in means was moderate. When the tutorial was completed immediately before the midterm examination but was not completed before the final examination, the experimental group's mean final examination score was higher than the control group's score, but the difference was not significant."

I'm a fan of open book testing because these exams mimic real-life work. Teachers are allowed to use dictionaries, doctors are allowed to use medial books, and lawyers are allowed to look up past case files. Rarely are employees asked to complete a task and not permitted to use reference material.