The Distributed Esteemed Endorser Review: A Novel Approach to Participant Assessment in MOOCs

One of the most challenging aspects of developing a Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) is designing an accurate method to effectively assess participant knowledge and skills. The Distributed Esteemed Endorser Review (DEER) approach has been developed as an alternative for those MOOCs where traditional approaches to assessment are not appropriate. In DEER, course projects are certified in-person by an "Esteemed Endorser", an individual who is typically senior in rank to the student, but is not necessarily an expert in the course content. Not only does DEER provide a means to certify that course goals have been met, it also provides MOOC participants with the opportunity to share information about what they have learned with others at the local level.