The next section of your design document will describe the assessment instruments you will use to determine if your learners have achieved your objectives. Employing appropriate and well-thought out assessments helps you determine what objectives have or have not been learned by the learners and will also help you in performing the formative evaluation. If you think of objectives as describing where you are going, the assessment items are the means by which you find out whether you got there.

You may wonder why test items are created now, when you haven't even developed your instruction? Well, the idea is that your assessment items should stem directly from your objectives, which is why they are created directly after the objectives. If you've written worthwhile objectives, you already know what content to test for; the performance asked for in the assessment item should match the performance described in the objective.

There are various types of items you can use when creating assessment instruments. Possible test items include:

• Essay
• Fill-in-the-blank
• Completion
• Multiple-choice
• Matching
• Product checklist
• Live performance checklist

You should select the type of item that gives learners the best opportunity to demonstrate the performance specified in the objective. In addition to selecting the appropriate test item type, it is also important to consider the testing environment. If your test items require special equipment and facilities - as specified in the "conditions" component of your objective - you will need to make sure that those things will be available to them. If not, you will need to create a realistic alternative to the ideal test item.

Now that you have drafted a list of objectives describing what you want your learners to be able to do after going through your multimedia program, it's time to create test items that will determine whether or not they have achieved those objectives. For this section of your document, create a criterion-referenced assessment item or evaluation tool for each one of your objectives. The criterion-referenced items or evaluation tools do not need to be paper-and-pencil tests, but they must accurately assess the behavior or performance called for by each of your objectives, and they should attempt to provide the conditions stated in the objective. If you feel you need more than one item in order to assess achievement of the objective, feel free to include them. However, at this point you are only required to create one item per objective.

Before creating an item, it may help to ask yourself the following questions about each objective:

1. According to the objective, what is it that the learner will need to do?
2. What conditions will need to be provided for this performance to occur?
3. What type of learning domain is covered by this objective: verbal information, intellectual skill, psychomotor skill, or attitude?
4. What type of test item will you need for this objective? Will it be an objective-style test item, or will you need to create a checklist or rating scale to evaluate a product, performance, or attitude? If it is an objective-style test item, which type of item will be most congruent with the prescribed behavior and conditions (e.g., multiple-choice, matching, essay, etc.)?

If you are assessing a product, performance, or attitude, you will not create an objective-type item. Instead, describe the product you will have them create or the behavior you will have them perform. Then, list some of the criteria you would include in a checklist or rating scale for that item. These criteria should reflect the characteristics of the product, the steps in the performance, or the items you will use to determine the presence of the attitude. Also indicate how these criteria will be rated.

If you have the Dick and Carey book you can use the checklist on page 165 help you evaluate your assessment items. When you are finished you should have an assessment item for each of your objectives. Number each assessment item according to how its objective is numbered; this way it will be easier to match them up.

Label this section of your design document Assessment Items. If you prefer, you may combine Sections 6 and 7 by creating a table that lists your objectives in one column and your accompanying assessment items in another column. This will make it easier to see how they match up. It might look something like this:

If you choose to do this label the section Objectives and Assessment Items.

Section 7 (Assessment Items) should be added to the design document you started creating earlier. Once again, this document should be typed up in Microsoft Word. At the top of the document you should have the title "Assessment Items". Underneath that should be your name, email address, and the date. You should save the document on your computer with the name "mmassessment". After you have saved your file, go to the student interface and submit your assignment for grading. Click here if you need additional information regarding submission of your assignment.