Comment on “The Impact of Online Assessment on Grades in Community College Distance Education Mathematics Courses” by Ronald W. Yates and Brian Beaudrie

Abstract

Abstract This article comments on an earlier article by professors Yates and Beaudrie (2009 Yates, R. W. and Beaudrie, B. 2009. The impact of online assessment on grades in community college distance education mathematics courses. The American Journal of Distance Education, 23(2): 62–70. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar])who examined whether online assessment facilitates student cheating and found no evidence of such a greater prevalence of cheating. Professors Yates and Beaudrie are commended for their contribution to this increasingly important area of research. The analysis indicates that professor Yates and Beaudrie's (2009 Yates, R. W. and Beaudrie, B. 2009. The impact of online assessment on grades in community college distance education mathematics courses. The American Journal of Distance Education, 23(2): 62–70. [Taylor & Francis Online] , [Google Scholar]) conclusion may have been influenced by (1) a failure to adequately account for student ability, leading to potential selection bias; (2) their use of course grades, rather than exam grades as the key measure of student performance; (3) possible differences in precautions that instructors may have deployed in the unproctored sections in order to discourage cheating; and (4) the evolution of distance learning resources and methods over their long period of study.