Online Assessment and the Holy Grail Ralf Becker Economics, School of Social Sciences The University of Manchester

What do we want of assessments? Essential Differentiate Student achievement Ensure student’s identity Safe and Flawless Delivery Desirable Easy to write Easy to mark Be a vehicle to provide feedback Ralf Becker, Economics, The University of Manchester

Exams v Online Exams can tick all essential boxes, but … Online assessment has serious shortcomings, in particular student identity and safe delivery cannot be guaranteed Online assessments can be valuable as formative assessment (with or without non- zeros grade weight) Ralf Becker, Economics, The University of Manchester

Two useful Online Setups Multiple Choice Questions based on prior work instructions (Qbpwi) Ralf Becker, Economics, The University of Manchester

Multiple Choice Need meaningful detractors (wrong answers) emulate typical mistakes Give answer specific feedback on wrong answers (i.e. “you go this wrong because you used E = mc instead of E=mc 2 ”) If positive grade contribution you want to ensure that students see different quizzes (see below) Ralf Becker, Economics, The University of Manchester

Qbpwi Give students clear work instructions (without qustions) Ralf Becker, Economics, The University of Manchester

Qbpwi Create online questions which can be answered only if the work has been done. Include software use Organise questions in pools from which each student will be drawn a random selection Ralf Becker, Economics, The University of Manchester

Qbpwi Set a fairly restrictive time window in which students can answer the quiz Use lecture timeslot to ensure all students can be available Tell students to do prep work BEFORE this window opens Ralf Becker, Economics, The University of Manchester

Qbpwi During test pray that students won’t have computer issues If they do, reset their test and let them start again (they will see a new random selection) Ralf Becker, Economics, The University of Manchester

Qbpwi - Marking Ralf Becker, Economics, The University of Manchester

If you use GTAs for marking then different GTAs will be allocated different questions Ralf Becker, Economics, The University of Manchester

Have typical comments available in Word and “just copy and paste” the appropriate comment. Supplement with further comments if appropriate Ralf Becker, Economics, The University of Manchester

How does this conreibute to student feedback? Depends on students actually being interested in feedback and looking at it and … The usefulness of your feedback Freed-up marking time! Ralf Becker, Economics, The University of Manchester