‘On the Way’ Assessment Strategies for Online Transformative Learning

Assessment in Online Education is rightly aligned to learning outcomes, but transformative learning is not limited to the standardised forms of summative assessment usually found in theological education.

This paper explores the concept of transformative assessment ‘on the way’ through building upon Mezirow’s Transformative Learning Theory and Bernard Lonergan’s notion of “Conversion” as the transformation of the subject within their world. Such transformation occurs primarily through formative assessment in which critical reflection on underlying premises of understanding yield what Mezirow calls, perspective transformation.

This paper explores the concept of transformative assessment ‘on the way’ through building upon Mezirow’s Transformative Learning Theory and Bernard Lonergan’s notion of “Conversion” as the transformation of the subject within their world.

It is then argued that this theoretical framework can be put into practice within an online context through effective implementations of “Communities of Inquiry,” in which intentional development of Social, Cognitive and Teaching Presence helps ground formative assessment in applicable ways of being.