The University organised an Arena 51 afternoon, devoted to improving the Student Experience on Tuesday 10 January 2012: 1.00pm – 4.00pm. this was an ideal opportunity to share some of the preliminary findings of EBEAM with colleagues. I delivered a session explaining how we were using EAM in the School of Education and Professional Development and here’s a summary of the points raised in the consequent discussion…
Arena 51: The Student Experience Event
Session Title: Benefits of electronic assessment
Name of Convener: Cheryl Reynolds
Summary of conversation
Benefits:
- Less time collating work to mark
- Less chance that work is lost
- Submission doesn’t have to be f2f – convenience for distance students
- Sustainability (less paper)
- Quick marks (pre-written comments for common errors) free up time and cognitive space to give better feedback.
- Cohort wide data flags up where students are weak and this informs curriculum design.
- Sharing this data with the students helps them see their norm-referenced achievements and assures them of the importance we place on the assessment process.
- Illegible handwriting avoided
- And lots more
Caveats raised include:
- Difficulties presented to those members of staff who don’t touch type
- Preference for paper-based processes
- Investment of time needed at the outset to get to grips with the tool
- External regulatory bodies stipulations that preclude the kind of assessment that can be assessed through GradeMark (though it was pointed out that any type of assessment can be graded in GradeMark if the correct submission process is used.)
Wish List includes:
- Audio within GradeMark, though there is a way to do this through Unilearn (not GradeMark) described by Steve Bentley
Actions
Staff development session – hands on use of GradeMark Sue Folley is willing to organise this as a follow up to an earlier session that demonstrated GradeMark to staff.
Not agreed in the meeting but perhaps Steve would be willing to contribute some input on how to attach audio to UniLearn feedback, either to this session or to a separate one?
Feedback provided to Helen Walker in Staff Development who will convene meetings and make arrangements for the above actions.