Assessment techniques in an online astronomy course

Teaching an astronomy course online involves many challenges. One major cha llenge is the design of appropriate, practical and challenging forms of ass essment which focus both on the astronomy content of the course and on the particular astronomy interests of the enrollees. This paper will discuss th e assessment approaches we have chosen for our introductory-level subjects, the outcomes obtained and the reactions of the course participants. In par ticular, some of the wide variety of project work undertaken by the partici pants will be described.