Innovation in Assessment?

• Why?• Poor student feedback regarding feedback

timeliness and usefulness• Staff workloads• Student lack of awareness as to what

constitutes feedback

• How?• Some approaches tried and tested• We do not have all the answers!!!

BUE traditional approaches• Coursework

• Reports• Essays• Maths based questions• Group or Individual

• Formal examinations• Closed book• Open book

• Presentations• Oral• Posters

• Good range seen as a positive by students and colleagues in other Schools

Innovations in Assessment

Why, How and When?

Why?

• Aims• To improve learning from the

assessment process• To engage students further• To improve student performance• To improve retention (hopefully)• To improve student feedback (NSS)

How?

• The traditional methods of assessment are tried and tested

• External Examiners are comfortable with them

• Students are comfortable with them

• Staff are comfortable with them• BUT

Could the methods we use be:• Tweaked• More balanced• Varied• How can these approaches

achieve the aims that innovative forms of assessment seek to achieve?

BUE Examples

• Seen closed book examinations

• Students are given the question a week before

• Focuses research and promotes further reading

• Discourages plagiarism

BUE Examples• Changing the brief of a project• Students work on a project all year with

a given brief• Submit project as a group• Given a change to the brief and an

afternoon to formulate changes to proposal

• Simulates working under pressure and ensures all group members contribute

BUE Examples• Using Classroom Performance System• Students revise for examination• Use CPS in revision class • Questions multiple choice but related to

exam questions• Results count 5% to module mark• Enjoyable and helps students identify

weaknesses before the examination

BUE Examples• Non issue of coursework brief until all

lectures complete• Essay titles issued randomly in week 12• Students have Christmas break to

undertake the work• Level 1 module- encourages full

attendance to the lectures and keeps students engaged over break period

BUE Examples

• In class assessment with a break for group discussion

• Given a design brief, and 2 hours to sketch and explain their solution

• Then 30 minutes discussion in groups of 6 – 8 students

• Followed by 30 minutes reflection on what they would or would not change in the light of the discussion

BUE Examples

• Assessed question and answer session after presentations (40%)

• The students pay a lot of attention to each others presentations

• Helps to identify any errors in the presentations

• Has been tried successfully in classes of up to 50 students

BUE Examples

• Give students a great deal of choice of subject matter

• ‘write about something which interests you in the field of….’

• They research more when interested• And also learn about a lot of other

subjects while trying to choose!

BUE Examples

• People from industry come in to help assess oral or poster presentations

• Students respond well, and put in extra effort

• Industrialists can be very good at pointing out the practicalities to students

• But they can be hopeless at marking!

When?

• Should be introduced in either level 1 or level 2 with relatively low weighting

• Not introduced at level 3 where marks count most

• Summative or formative but more engagement if summative

• CPS good for formative

Student Views

• Very varied!• When students from one course

were asked which assessment they had enjoyed most – almost every assessment was given as an answer, and very few students chose the same assessment

What type of assessment is most fair?

assignment

written exam

oral exam

combination

What do you learn through writing assignments?

• New material• How to structure an argument• Develop skills in interpretation• Making contacts (at work for part

time students)• How to search for material for as

legislation

What do you learn through writing assignments?

• I’ve learnt more where there has been greater flexibility within the question

• I’m more likely to remember the detail if I’ve done the extra reading

• I learn more about a subject by looking from more than one angle

What do you learn through studying for exams?

• Extend knowledge of a subject• Short term learning• Not much• Facts but less theory• How to produce a short report quickly• Thinking on ones feet• Reinforces knowledge already learnt• A crucial part of my learning experience• Exams are necessary to move information

into long term memory

Multiple Choice Exams

• Too restrictive• There is a way of finding answers without

learning much• Very easy and don’t need much revision• Less able to assess knowledge and

understanding• If negative marking is included can be

fair• Useful for calculations

Ideal exam length

• Depends on proportion of marks from exam

• Varies from 2 hours to 5 hours• Most either 2 or 3 hours• Don’t like more than one 3 hour

exam in a day

Conclusion

• All innovations need to achieve some or all of the aims of assessment

• Students often prefer the traditional methods

• Diversity allows for students with all preferences to shine in some areas

• Standards still have to be maintained

The big issue?

• How do these approaches facilitate the provision of timely and useful feedback?

• All of them allow a quicker turn round time

• Do we move to assessment tools merely to address this issue?

• If NSS is used to determine league table position then probably yes.

The bigger picture

•What we want is successful students with enhanced experiences of JMU.

•We need to look at the whole student experience.

StudentSuccess

Pre-Entry,Induction,Transition

Student Support,

Retention &Achievement

Learning,Teaching,

Assessment

Graduation,Employability,

GlobalCitizenship

We need to address all

aspects of the student

experience