Online Diagnostic Assessment – The Benefits, Challenges and Examples

Informed Lesson Planning 

“Through carefully constructed diagnostic items—supports teachers in improving instruction by providing them with a natural extension to their practice, rather than requiring a major shift in mind-set.” Ciofalo, J., & Wylie, C. E. (2006).

As stated by Ciofalo, J., & Wylie, C. E. (2006), diagnostic assessment helps educators to improve their instruction. By analyzing the results of diagnostic assessments, educators can then effectively focus their lesson planning on addressing specific learning gaps or misconceptions within the learning process.

Address Individual Needs

Diagnostic assessment helps educators to overcome common issues, such as tailoring instruction to individual student needs. By conducting effective diagnostic assessment at the beginning of the learning period, educators can accurately individualize their instructions based on the developmental level of each pupil Caspó & Molnár (2019). 

Effective Progress Monitoring

Whilst by definition, diagnostic assessment is most commonly carried out at the beginning of the learning period. By carrying out identical assessments post or mid-way through instruction, educators can track students’ progress and evaluate the effectiveness of their teaching strategies.

This method empowers teachers to adapt their teaching techniques, ensuring ongoing enhancement in student learning outcomes. 

Moreover, even if the same assessment is not given again, the initial diagnostic assessment results serve as a reliable benchmark for comparing the student’s current level during the learning journey.

Optimized Learning

As educators have a precise understanding of students’ existing knowledge and misconceptions, learning can start from a level suited to each student, avoiding frustration or loss of motivation caused by being over or under challenged.

Increased Confidence 

When educators recognize and leverage students’ existing knowledge, it can provide the students with a feeling of validation of their comprehension and enhance their confidence in their skills for the learning period ahead.

Addressing Misconceptions

As explored, diagnostic assessment enables educators and students to identify and address common misconceptions before instruction. This therefore helps students develop a more accurate understanding of the subject matter from the beginning. As a result, students can build a solid foundation of knowledge upon which to construct new learning (University of Buffalo).

There are no specific criteria for exactly how a diagnostic assessment should be conducted nor what it should include. However, here we explore some examples of potential diagnostic assessment for a selection of subject areas:

Facilitating such online diagnostic assessment with Inspera Assessment offers an extensive range of question types and assessment capabilities. 

The platform offers a variety of question types, both automatically and manually scored, encompassing multiple-choice, response questions with intricate scoring, essays, document uploads, and oral assessments. The numerical simulation question type enables the creation of automatically graded math questions with programmed parameters and randomized response outcomes.

Educators can also easily maintain integrity by offering a variety of measures within the system to ensure that all candidates face the same conditions during their assessment.

Not only does the software provide broad flexibility and integrity but it also offers a rich array of feedback capabilities including comments anchored to text, page notes, assessment wide feedback and audio notes.

Diagnostic assessment, as with all forms of assessment both in the classroom and in online learning, comes with its potential challenges. Here we explore some of the most common: 

Could cause student anxiety

Potentially time-consuming for educators

Potential for false inferences

Let’s explore each of these potential challenges further. 

Could Cause Student Anxiety

Like any assessment, diagnostic assessments can sometimes make students anxious. If a student worries about answering incorrectly or fears they might not meet the required level, they might not answer honestly, be encouraged to engage in academic dishonesty, or avoid answering questions altogether.

Fortunately, online learning is well adept at counterbalancing these challenges with the use of proctoring software and has in fact, been shown to reduce student anxiety, reducing the impact of such challenges (Ogange, B.O., Agak, J.O., Okelo, K.O. and Kiprotich, P., 2018).

Potentially Time-Consuming for Educators

It’s suggested that diagnostic assessment may be time-consuming as educators must take additional time out of their already limited time and resources to create an effective diagnostic tool, requiring in-depth knowledge of the subject area and understanding of common student misconceptions. They must also then take time to mark the assessments and develop their lesson planning in alignment with the results. 

It is useful to note, however, that depending on the online assessment tool, the impact of this challenge for educators can be significantly reduced due to user-friendly assessment creation, peer review and automated marking capabilities.

There is also sometimes the potential for false inferences of student knowledge when using diagnostic assessment. This is a result of the subjective nature of some assessment formats and due to the fact staff may require additional training in order to create and score diagnostic assessments reliably. 

Following best practices for using diagnostic assessments in online learning ensures accurate evaluation of student understanding, identifies learning gaps, and guides instructional decisions. It fosters fairness, reliability, and integrity in assessments, promoting meaningful learning experiences and enhancing overall student success in online education.

Fan, T., Song, J. & Guan, Z. (2021) developed the integrative framework of diagnosis, which builds upon previously constructed frameworks (e.g., from Fan & Zeng, 2016; Harding et al., 2015; Lee, 2015; Lee & Sawaki, 2009), feedback (e.g., Zenisky & Hambleton, 2012), and classroom-based assessment (e.g., Hill & McNamara, 2011; Wang & Li, 2019 as cited by Fan, T., Song, J. & Guan, Z. (2021)). The framework is built upon four major components and aims to provide a guide to educators for integrating diagnostic assessment into the curriculum. 

The major components are broken down as below:

1. Designing and conducting diagnostic assessments
2. Providing diagnostic feedback to stakeholders 
3. Implementing remedial instruction and learning 
4. Validating the integrative system of diagnosis 

Fig.1: Source: Fan, T., Song, J. & Guan, Z. (2021)

In recognition of this framework and review of wider sources, we have outlined seven best practices for using diagnostics in online learning: 

1. Choose appropriate test formats and platforms

2. Apply subject area expertise to develop assessment questions

3. Provide clear instructions and expectations

4. Monitor and troubleshoot the test administration

5. Provide timely results and feedback

6. Action result findings into student learning

7. Review and revise your test practices

Let’s explore each of them further.

1. Choose Appropriate Test Formats and Platforms

Fitting within the first component of Fan, T., Song, J. & Guan, Z. (2021)’s framework ‘Designing and conducting diagnostic assessments’, it’s important to choose an appropriate format for the assessment. 

Specifically, for online assessment, it’s also vitally important to select an online assessment platform that best facilitates your assessment needs and offers a positive experience for both educators and students. 

2. Apply Subject Area Expertise to Develop Assessment Questions

Educators should leverage their in-depth subject matter expertise and experience of teaching the subject in order to determine the content of the assessment. For example, common student misconceptions should be identified and addressed. 

Alderson et al., (2015) explains that educators should use discrete-point items to efficiently identify weaknesses and for straightforward interpretation of diagnostic results. 

3. Provide Clear Instructions and Expectations

The next stage involves effectively communicating with students regarding the intent, structure, length, scoring methods, technical specifications, and protocols of assessments.

4. Monitor and Troubleshoot the Test Administration

Educators should also carry out a quick check to oversee and address any issues that arise during the test administration, ensuring a fair and seamless process for all students.

5. Provide Timely Results and Feedback

Providing timely results and feedback is the next important element of best practice for implementing effective diagnostic assessment online and forms the second major component of  Fan, T., Song, J. & Guan, Z. (2021) framework.

Feedback should adhere to predetermined criteria, like Rubrics, tailored for the assessment. It should be promptly delivered to students within a structured timeframe, ideally utilizing automated marking and immediate results delivery available on online learning platforms where applicable. In cases such as online interviews and focus groups where automated feedback is not possible, educators should leverage other types of feedback capabilities available to deliver meaningful and timely feedback online.

6. Action Result Findings in Student Learning

Here we acknowledge the third component of Fan, T., Song, J. & Guan, Z. (2021)’s theoretical framework. Within this component, teachers are expected to apply diagnostic assessment results to the curriculum to create meaningful content and strengthen the identified weaknesses of students (Lee, 2015) aligned with learning goals (Wang & Li, 2019).

7. Review and Revise Your Test Practices

Finally, reviewing and revising test practices post-diagnostic assessment allows educators to reflect on effectiveness, identify areas for improvement, and adapt strategies to better meet student needs.