Advances in E-learning-Experiences and Methodologies

Evaluation and Effective Learning
should be focussed on the objective for which
the task was designed and limit themselves to
the quality criteria previously established. They
should preferably be in written form and comprehensible
to the students; they need to be adapted
to the students’ vision of the discipline since, as
learners, the students are not always capable of
having an overall idea of the subject and of what
knowledge it implies.
Finally, in order to be truly effective, the assessment
system must guarantee that students
receive the feedback, assimilate it, and react to it,
modifying those matters that the correction has
shown can be improved upon. The assessment
must therefore be designed in such a way that the
feedback is useful, making use of the indications
for subsequent tasks and activities which thus
incorporate the improvements indicated in the
correction of the previous task.
It is important to point out that all these elements,
which should be taken into account when
selecting the assessment strategy, are associated
with the learner, the student being an active subject
of the learning process, and not so much with the
teacher or the teaching process. As I see it, the
central idea suggested by Gibbs and Simpson
(2005) is therefore that the assessment is related to
the students’ learning, occupying a central position
in their involvement in the process, leaving the
teachers the possibility of using it to direct their
teaching and achieve the right kind of learning.
This reinforces the idea that the learner, with all
his internal learning processes and motivation,
plays a central role in the teaching-learning process.
The teacher, as an expert in the subject and
in the best way of learning it, thereby becomes a
provider of the process mentioned, endowing his
teaching and assessment decisions with a strategic
character that guarantees the best results.
This activity of the teacher as a mediator in the
learning process of his students and a strategist in
the use of teaching and assessment does not come
cheaply (Feuerstein, 1990; Feuerstein et al., 1980).
A great effort is required, both in terms of time
and in formation and conviction, for the employment
of active methodologies and the preparation
of the feedback necessary to make the correction
of activities effective. New technologies and their
application in teaching may alleviate the burden
somewhat in this process. The possibilities offered
by the Web and virtual teaching platforms
mean that computers have become an essential
work tool and that the means of communication
between teacher and students and among the latter
have multiplied. Thus, technology plays a major
part in various aspects of the teaching-learning
process, among which are the use of collaborative
work and the possibilities of the strategic use of
assessment, a matter of concern to us. Information
and communication technologies (ICT’s) can
help in the design and programming of activities,
encouraging a specific distribution of work time
by establishing work procedures directed towards
more productive learning, communicating the
results of the correction process to the students,
and establishing feedback between the students
and the teacher, briefly by involving the students
more in the tasks and making them aware of the
level of quality that these should possess.
the eLectronIc PortFoLIo oF
“InternAtIonAL economIc
reLAtIons”
This section describes the teaching innovation
carried out in the Department of Applied
Economics at the University of Oviedo for the
subject “International Economic Relations.” The
innovation is designed as an alternative assessment
that permits evaluation of more than conceptual
knowledge. One of the instruments that can be
used to carry out this type of alternative assessment
is the student’s portfolio.
The portfolio is a technique of collection,
compilation, and repertoire of evidences and
professional competences that qualify a person
for a satisfactory professional development. So,