Issues in the Validation of Assessment in Technology-Based Distance and Distributed Learning: What Can We Learn From Messick's Framework?

Abstract

In his (1988) article on validity and validation, Messick discussed how a proliferation of technology-mediated delivery methods in the first few decades of the 21st century will impact on our conceptions of teaching and learning, and on validity and validation practices. According to Messick (1988), our fundamental conception of validity, as expressed in his four-faceted framework, will likely remain the same, but new technology-mediated environments will render a classical, unitary approach to validation untenable. With the aid of an example, this article demonstrates how Messick's framework provides a powerful set of lenses with which to explore issues in the validation of small-scale assessments in these new environments. A goal of this article is to initiate a dialogue between measurement and testing specialists and experts in distance and distributed learning.