Performance and learning evaluation in Distance Education: A proposal on what and how evaluate new learning at the undergraduate level in Mexican universities

In these changing times, globalization hales the education systems to have different alternatives of education, and one of them is Distance Education. Today distance education is an interesting option for those people who lack the opportunity to attend the traditional system of education -face-to-face - due to constraints in time, space, and money that the students might have. What and how the students learn is the main concern which can take us to establish what is to be evaluated and how to evaluate considering that DE could be for everybody no matter the background, self-confidence and intellectual preferences of the interested students. Recognizing that participation in e-forums individually or in groups allows professors to plan different goals and analyze the contributions of the students in the forum discussions in order to promote feedback, the evaluation and the capabilities of critical thought and the knowledge provided when needed, is the ultimate purpose of this paper. An integral evaluation includes a diagnosis, formative, summative and self and co-evaluation by the students; also the use of strategies, techniques, and activities that will allow a significant learning; and should include an easy way to understand what is being evaluated for both the learners and the teachers.