2.2 Problem Analysis
The author holds that the above-mentioned problems only represent surface phenomena, and their causes are varied.
2.2.1 Insufficient theoretical preparation for distance education in China
Theoretical support is lacking in teaching and administration, especially in students' learning evaluation. Over the years, distance education has focused on expanding in scale, but has lacked theoretical and practical exploration into developing distance education theory appropriate to China. Learning evaluation is an area that is even more lacking in effective theoretical research and practical exploration. As mentioned above, some schools currently use students' day-to-day assignments as a replacement for formative assessment. In reality, formative assessment has a special significance. If replaced with day-to-day assignments whose answers can be found straight out of the textbook, how can instructors detect problems through such assignments? What kind of feedback can the instructors get from such formative assessment? Using this type of formative assessment, it is impossible for instructors to correct students' improper learning behaviors and methods. Therefore, this kind of assessment is regarded as a mere formality.
2.2.2 Teaching evaluation lacks individualization
Distance education advocates independent study, and study is individualized. However, this is not reflected in teaching evaluation. The most important principle in distance or traditional teaching is to teach students according to their natural abilities. The reason is that students have different learning processes and methods, and a uniform teaching method cannot meet the needs of all the students. Class teaching is a product of industrialization. Large scale mechanical production requires large batches of laborers with uniform skills. Class teaching meets this demand, but theoretically leads to teaching that is not differentiated. The application of computer technology in teaching has broken down the fixed pace and sequence of traditional teaching. Students can choose what to learn and when to learn it in accordance with their individual needs. This substantial change makes it possible to individualize teaching, that is, the application of the Internet technology supports the principle of teaching students according to their aptitude. In the course of teaching, all schools take an interest in the results of teaching. Every instructor wants to know whether his or her teaching meets people's needs and promotes the growth of the learners. The way to judge whether teaching is effective is to evaluate the learning results of the learners. Modern distance education features individualized learning, and therefore traditional evaluation methods must be changed accordingly.
2.2.3 One-sided evaluation
Learning evaluation is closely related to teaching evaluation. The current evaluation approach pays attention only to students and is somewhat one-sided. Learning evaluation is an important part of teaching evaluation. On one hand, it is a reflection of the instructors' teaching methods, strategies and procedures. Instructors revise and improve their teaching methods and strategies based on the information it provides. On the other hand, learning evaluation feedback also serves as a correction of distance learners' behaviors, a way to find out major problems in learning so as to better improve learning quality. However, the function of teaching evaluation is not achieved in practice.
2.2.4 Purpose of evaluation approaches unclear
Teaching evaluation is a system made up of various elements like evaluation approaches, evaluation content and evaluation goals. The evaluation process is an integral part of the teaching process, but current evaluation approaches lack clear purpose. Research and especially practical exploration are lacking in certain detailed aspects of teaching administration. The most striking example is the insufficient attention to teaching evaluation in the design of distance education. The main ideas of teaching evaluation are, first, to mobilize the students' study initiative and encourage students to study hard, and second, to guide instructors and students to discover what are the most effective teaching and learning behaviors. Evaluation approaches must serve the aforementioned aims. Since instructors of distance education undertake the management of several subjects, they do not have the energy to meticulously plan all the subjects. The lack of integrated planning in teaching leads to the inability to organically integrate resource construction with teaching and learning evaluation, and teaching and learning evaluation become artificially disconnected. The functions of mobilization and guidance are not fully reflected in the existing evaluation approaches.
2.2.5 Overemphasis on quantification and standardization in the existing evaluation system
Learning evaluation should be an evaluation of the students' learning aptitude, analysis skills and comprehensive abilities. It is both comprehensive and to a certain extent, ambiguous. However, the current evaluation system is strongly biased towards standardization and quantification. Though standardization and quantification are of great importance and necessity in modern industry, their value in teaching and administration is debatable. In particular, contradictions and deficiencies stand out when standardization and quantification are applied to learning evaluation. In reality, some things are inherently ambiguous and cannot be quantified or measured by a uniform standard, such as a person's character, ability, creativity, and personal learning experiences. These cannot be summarized using current assessment standards or quantification. Overly quantifying examinations for certain subjects will certainly have a negative impact on the evaluation.
2.2.6 Practical teaching evaluation characteristics not achieved
Most distance learners are on-the-job adults. They have a considerable amount of practical experience, which can enrich practical teaching in distance education and pave the way for practical teaching to become more individualized. However, due to the lack of research on practical teaching specific to distance education, current evaluation approaches neglect the fact that most learners are on-the-job adults, and practical teaching simply imitates the practical teaching systems of regular institutions of higher education. Therefore, the evaluation of practical teaching suffers problems like simplification, weak focus, lack of distance education features and lack of individualization.
3. Distance education learning evaluation trending towards diversification
3.1 The meaning of learning evaluation diversification
Before proceeding, it is necessary to analyze and contrast the learning objectives of distance education, basic education and regular higher education.
On the surface, distance education features the separation of instructors and students, media transmission of instruction and wide variation in students' background. In fact, there are far more differences between distance education and general basic education and regular higher education. Aside from using information technology to educate and bridge a physical separation, distance education differs from traditional education in terms of learning objective. The learning objective for basic education is to lay a foundation for the next period of study; the body of knowledge for each grade is closely related to that of the next grade, but is less relevant to the student's future career. Some of the knowledge in regular higher education is also not directly related to the students' future career, similar to basic education.
Generally speaking, most distance learners are on-the-job adults, and thus distance education is classified as a second-tier discipline, that is, adult education. This characteristic of learners being on-the-job adults means that their studies will be pertinent to their jobs, specialized and practically applied. In terms of the learning process, learners acquire knowledge via a wider set of sources. Theoretically speaking, they can use the Internet to obtain study materials from any learning platform. Online transmission makes possible the rapid update of teaching resources and rapid dissemination of knowledge to a wide audience. Learners are not restricted by classrooms or instructors, and they do not have to accept a uniform style of teaching. Instead, they can individually study what interests them the most, which is more effective and contributes to individualized learning. With the development of modern information technology, educational technology provides distance learners with automatic learning evaluation, learning guidance and learning feedback support. In terms of learning approach, they can choose systematic study or non-systematic study, online group study or instructor-guided study; also popular is mixed-mode study. In a word, learners can select what they think is the most effective way is to learn.
It is reasonable to describe online study as using five sensory channels, i.e., "reading (sight channel), listening (hearing channel), looking (sight channel), speaking (hearing channel) and doing (touch and action channels)"[4]. Moreover, learning ability is a combination of multiple elements and reflects several kinds of abilities. Robert Gargne maintains that learning is affected by a number of variables, including "the learner's willpower, time (chance) available for study, his aptitude (subject specificity), understanding power (general intelligence) and teaching quality" [5]. Students manifest various kinds of abilities during the course of their study, which means that a diversified learning evaluation approach must be used instead of a simplistic one. A diversified evaluation approach is appropriate for the distance education characteristics of "multiple standards, multiple forms and multiple levels", such as the different levels of junior college, undergraduate and postgraduate education, and the diverse content of degree and non-degree education.
In conclusion, the meaning of diversified evaluation can be summarized as follows. (1) Evaluation content is diversified. Instead of emphasizing the evaluation of pure memorized knowledge, the focus is on assessing the students' learning methods, learning ability, learning process, practical problem solving and practical ability. Evaluation could include major assignments, theses, day-to-day study evaluation and final examinations. (2) Methods and means of learning evaluation are diversified to include online, paper medium, formative assessment and summative assessment, etc. (3) Subjects of evaluation are diversified. In addition to schools evaluating students' learning, class evaluation, student self-evaluation, peer evaluation and societal evaluation should be considered. (4) Standards of evaluation are diversified to accommodate different levels. (5) Evaluation content and standards should vary by subject, and even vary according to different units of the same subject. The specific implementation of diversified evaluation can be summed up as: evaluation over a period of time (procedurized), use of information technology and comprehensiveness.