Taking assessments and examinations to the next level

Integration of BlackBoard & AlephQ

University of Antwerp – E-Campus

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IntroductionE-Campus

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Introduction: E-Campus

• University of Antwerp

• E-Campus: Educational Technologists and Bb support

• Developers AlephQ:

– Christine Lippens: • Part-time teaching assistant Dep. Accounting & Finance• Part-time E-Campus

– Raoul Deuss: E-Campus

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Motivational EducationImproving effectiveness

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Accountancy Ba1 - Challenge

• 750 Students

• 1 Lecturer: 10% availability

• 1 Assistant: 40% availability

Challenge = Activated and Efficient education within this HR constraint

Solution = AlephQ in combination with BlackBoard

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AlephQRich and Flexible examination software

AlephQ – Innovation in examination

• Flexible

• Accurate

• Fast

• Reliable

• User friendly

More details: further on in this presentation

Integration of AlephQ and BlackBoard

Exam file in AlephQ software (local)

Distribution through BlackBoard

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AlephQRedesign the course set-up

Course – Annual Planning – Before AlephQ

• 12 Lessons

• 2 Exams

Workload examination: 4 weeks x 2 = 8 weeks (1 FTE)

Course – Annual Planning – With AlephQ

• 12 Lessons

• 4 Assignments

• 2 Exams

Workload examination: 1 week x 2Workload assignments: 2 days x 4

3 weeks (1 FTE)

Lesson - Structure

• Lecture

• Exercise session

• Self-study package

• Video

• Forum or Blog

• Wiki

Assignments – AlephQ within BlackBoard

• Compulsory

• Enforced throughmalus system

• Questions: blog or wiki

• Explanation: video

• Personal feedback

• Remediation

Assignments – Communication through BlackBoard

Assignments – Questions in Wiki

Conclusions

Questions

Assignments – Feedback - AlephQ in Content Collection

Building

Block

A+

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AlephQIn the Electronic Learning Environment

AlephQ in the Electronic Learning Environment

Blog

Fora

Itembank

Calender

VideoSlides

Wiki

Announce ments

Take home

Test

Communication

Collaboration

BLACKBOARD

Docs

CourseMaterial

Evaluation

Examination at Antwerp University

January 2016: 10,300 individual exam papers

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Why spend time developing something like AlephQ ?

“off the shelf”-solutions do not meet all requirements:

• Exam presentation is exactly like the paper original

• Accurate and differentiated marking

• Detailed personal feedback for students

• Minimise fraud

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Exam Presentation

Allowable question format constraints

• Adapt the question format to the platform

• Partially give away the answer

• Forced to split questions that really belong in a single exam topic

Exam presentation often degrades course intentions or course level

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Accurate and Differentiated Marking

Marking algorithm is insufficiently versatile to replace manual marking. The lecturers can:

• Give full marks to correct alternativeanswers

• Give partial marks for partially correct calculations or deductions

• Insist on giving intermediatesteps

• Be assisted by open questions(which cannot be fully automated)

Alternatives

Marking

Formulae

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Lack of Standardisation across academic disciplines

Specialised toolkits do exist for

• Languages, Maths, Physics, Chemistry, …

Lack of standardisationaffects the workload of:

• Educational technologists

• Lecturers

• Students

ExamsBlackBoardOrtho

didacte

Pearson

Sofia

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Why Standardisation is essential ?

Universities need

• a stable solution(exams are mission critical)

• technological independence(ad hoc support, control over systems)

• to minimise fraud(disable internet access)

MapleSofia

Mc Graw-

Hill

Pearson

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Feedback

Desirable in a Motivational Learning Environment …

• Personal

• Detailed

• Efficient (e.g. next day as opposed to 3 weeks later)

• Maintaining security (in high volume and high turnover individualised feedback sessions)

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AlephQOur Solution

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AlephQ – Our Solution

Respects the lecturer’s intended question line

• Purpose

• Presentation format

• Marking methodology

New Functionalities

• Atypical question format

(Combining open fields, essay fields, numerical fields, calculations and formulae, with matching marking rules)

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AlephQPractical Examples

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AlephQ – Lecturer’s Software

View ChooseClick

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AlephQ – Students’ Software

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AlephQ – Students’ Software

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AlephQ – Personal Feedback

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AlephQ – Personal Feedback

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AlephQ – Results

Total Results – Colors

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AlephQ – Results

Results by Question – Psychometrics

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AlephQ – Results

Results by Field– Psychometrics

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Exam Presentation

Interchangeable

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Accurate and Differentiated Marking - Accountancy

Alternative answers

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Accurate and Differentiated Marking - Chemistry

Dependency

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Accurate and Differentiated Marking - Chemistry

Formula EditorClick to edit

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Accurate and Differentiated Marking - Chemistry

Partial Marks

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Accurate and Differentiated Marking - Accountancy

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Accurate and Differentiated Marking - Accountancy

Alternatives - Partial Marks

Collected answers

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Accurate and Differentiated Marking - Accountancy

Margins

Collected answers

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Accurate and Differentiated Marking - Accountancy

Formulae - Partial Marks

Formulae – Edit by Clicking

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Accurate and Differentiated Marking - Spanish

Quick creation

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Accurate and Differentiated Marking - Spanish

Automatic implementation

Lecturer marks the alternatives

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Accurate and Differentiated Marking – Maritime English

Interchangeable & Open

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Accurate and Differentiated Marking – Maritime English

Lecturer marks the alternatives

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Accurate and Differentiated Marking – Belgian Family Law

Interchangeable & Open

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Accurate and Differentiated Marking – Belgian Family Law

Interchangeable & Open

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Accurate and Differentiated Marking – Essays

Personal and/or general feedback on essay questions

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AlephQ – Other functionalities

• Multiple choice

• Multiple answers

• Images

• Images as answers in essays

• Incorporation of attachments

• …

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AlephQ – Minimise Fraud

Protection on AlephQ files:

• Blocked by ownership after login

• Date restriction

• IP-range restriction

Protection - Exam papers

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AlephQ – Personal Feedback

Building BlockAlephQ – Feedback Report

“Rapporteren”

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Thank you for your interestQuestions ?