What if PSYC 406 were to be a MOOC?
Think about it: this course as an open online course? Wouldn’t that be cool?
At the start of the blogging project, I wrote about depression. Then I switched gears into writing about Lumosity and the CFAT. I still have a few ideas left: the link between psychopathy/sociopathy and pain, selection tests administered by intelligence services, forensic psychology after last week’s fascinating lecture…
But instead, like some have done before me, I want to write something special to leave as my last blog entry. Something meta.
MOOC stands for Massive Open Online Course(s) — an emerging concept of exporting education from some of the best schools in the globe to practically anyone with internet access. I would say the top two platforms are EdX and Coursera — and not just because I have accounts in both. In fact, McGill has recently joined EdX, so the entitled question that I ask is not that crazy.
How different would this course be? And relevantly, how would it affect testing?
In PSYC 406, we are tested about testing. It doesn’t get more ‘meta’ than that.
But consider our: (a) blogging project and (b) test administration. These were both online exercises. Many tests are computerized, seemingly without much difference in reliability. Our paper too may be sent through the internet. “MyCourses” can be ‘MyCourses’ without My Courses. Yet, one cannot deny that online conditions are not standardized.
So formal exams? These cannot be held online for obvious reasons. However, this may be addressed.
Recently, EdX has implemented a system to positively ID students for their Verified Certificate. Students are asked to provide an official ID along with webcam verification, requested randomly as the course progresses (to make sure someone else is not sitting it). This gives me an idea: during MOOC exams — after face verification — the student may set up a camera with a top-down view of the desk. This can be live-streamed and the student never knows when he/she is being observed — producing the Panopticon effect.
Ultimately, whether sound or not — this is to ensure testing validity so that it measures what it is designed to measure. This is compromised if someone is answering the questions while consulting the material, like how WAIS is not really valid if someone took it recently without informing the tester.
In brief:
Would it undermine testing reliability? Not differently.
Would it undermine testing validity? Potentially.
Would it affect soundness? Maybe.
Would it affect standardization? Surely.
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