Reconsidering assessment in online/hybrid courses: Knowing versus learning

• Assessment influenced use of rhetorical moves and how students interacted online.
• Learning can be differentiated from knowing.
• Measures of knowing show good discrimination during regular online discussion.
• Scores on the knowing scale quickly reach ceiling during test discussion.
• Students show more types of learning in the regular than in the test discussion.

This study explores the influence of assessment on students' online written discussions. A two-by-two design was used to understand students' expression of knowledge and of learning in the contexts of “regular” online discussions versus “final test” online discussions. Findings suggested that assessment had an impact on how students interacted online and in their use of rhetorical moves; and that knowing and learning are related but distinct constructs, correlated within each writing context, dissociated across contexts, and performing differentially as a function of students' perceptions of academic demands. We discuss the limitations of traditional assessment, offer an alternative approach, and conclude with practical suggestions for online/hybrid course instructors.