Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) for Online Instruction
"Colleges and universities are being encouraged to focus not so much on how faculty teach but on how students learn.  The Classroom Assessment Techniques (CATs) by Angelo and Cross (1993) provide faculty with information on how well students are learning in order to help students succeed not only in the course but also in the world beyond the classroom.  Specific techniques best adapted to an online course are identified along with an explanation on how it improves student learning.  Distance learning students increased from 710,000 in 1998 to 2.23 million in 2002, primarily due to the technologies of the Internet.  With the need for more instructors to facilitate the increased demand for online learning, the importance of CATs in distance instruction is emphasized.
http://www.rpgroup.org/publications/eJournal/
Volume_1/flint.htm