E-Assessment : An Awarding Body

PerspectiveProfessor Daniel Khan OBE

Chief ExecutiveOCN London

“Assessment is a central feature of teaching and thecurriculum. It powerfully frames how students learn andwhat students achieve. It is one of the most significantinfluences on students’ experience of higher educationand all that they gain from it.The reason for an explicit focus on improving assessmentpractice is the huge impact it has on the quality oflearning.”

Boud & Associates (2010) Assessment 2020: Seven propositions for assessment reform in higher education

“Information is at the heart of quality assurance.Assessment management systems can, if usedeffectively, give a full overview of assessmentand enable information to flow through aninstitution to improve consistency and fairness.”

Peter Findlay, Assistant Director, Quality Assurance Agency

Technology-enhanced assessment and feedback refers topractices that provide some, or all, of the followingbenefits:

Greater variety and authenticity in the design of assessments

Improved learner engagement, for example, through interactive formative assessments with adaptive feedback

Choice in the timing and location of assessments

What Technology Offers

Capture of wider skills and attributes not easily assessed by other means, eg through simulations, e-portfolios and interactive games

Efficient submission, marking, moderation and data storage processes

Consistent, accurate results with opportunities to combine human and computer marking

Immediate feedback

Increased opportunities for learners to act on feedback, e.g. by reflection in e-portfolios

Innovative approaches based a round use of creative media and online peer and self assessment

Accurate, timely and accessible evidence on the effectiveness of curriculum design and delivery

Pachler et al. A project report for JISC (2009)

Colleges and Training Providers’ requirements

Efficiency of operations

Cost reduction

Student demand

Flexibility of Assessment Models

Why do Awarding Bodies Need to Prioritise Resources for E-Assessment?

Investment costs

Credibility and integrity of qualifications

Culture change for staff

Challenge for vocational skills

Challenges

Global working

International skills benchmarking

Poverty reduction for developing countries through internationally recognised skills

Income diversification

Flexibility of delivery in workplace

Opportunities

Whether, and how, to measure student participation in on-line discussion and activities

How to measure individual performances within group assignments

Authentication of student work

Credibility and Integrity of Qualifications

Preventing and detecting plagiarism

Issues of security

Connecting the assessment to the teaching and learning intent and strategies

The Australian National Training Authority.

Credibility and Integrity of Qualifications

Kendle et al (2000) have proposed 10 criteria toguide the design and development of effectivequalitative e-assessment tasks:

Assessment tasks should be open-ended

Tasks should have a clear purpose and outcome

Tasks should be authentic in nature

Quality Issues

There should be an emphasis on process over product

Collaboration and communication should incorporated in tasks

Students should have varying degrees of choice in the assessment tasks

Tasks should be linked to unit or course objectives

Feedback mechanisms should be included in the task design

Tasks should encourage the appropriate discriminatory use of online resources

Tasks should enable students to examine and present many viewpoints

Engages students with the assessment criteria

Supports personalised learning

Ensures feedback leads to improvement

Focuses on student development

Stimulates dialogue

Considers staff and student effort

Good Assessment for Learning

“Nothing that we do to, or for, our students is moreimportant than our assessment of their work and thefeedback we give them on it. The results of ourassessment influence our students for the rest oftheir lives and careers – fine if we get it right, butunthinkable if we get it wrong.”

Race, Brown & Smith (2005) 500 Tips on Assessment

Conclusion