Can a computer-marked exam improve retention? Jon Rosewell Communication & Systems, MCT CALRG Annual Conference, 19th June 2012

Does ‘one-off’  poor retention? An ‘M-world’ module T180 Living with the Net (2004-2006) as an example Some studying as ‘one-off’ Students enjoyed and completed course but daunted by EMA Students who submitted nearly all passed – too late! Not submitting EMA  not completing module  poor retention statistic (51%)  HEFCE penalty Setting up students to fail?

Can a final CMA improve retention? Submission of CMA generally high (T184: 87%, n=2158) iCMA encourages engagement and motivation Not as daunting as typical EMA So add final CMA(CME) and reduce EMA CME is a component of final assessment  submission = course completion Apologies for the acronym nightmare!

Can an iCME improve retention? Moodle quiz Same format as mid-course iCMA Open at start of course; single submission by traditional cut-off date Questions can be revisited Question level feedback immediately after cut-off date (cf OU anodyne performance profile 3 months later…) Even without adaptive feedback, learner can judge their own performance Builds confidence Lowers barrier to pass: relatively low score on EMA programming and essay questions sufficient to pass

T184 assessment strategy Original 10% – mid-course iCMA 90% – final written EMA Part I – short answer qns Part II – prog & essay qns Threshold: 40 marks on EMA New 10% – mid-course iCMA 30% – final iCME 60% – final written EMA prog & essay qns Thresholds: 0 marks on iCME 0 marks on EMA

Hypothesis: Students will attempt iCME first, before EMA  They will thus complete the module This will improve their confidence They will then be motivated to attempt EMA They will thus pass the module

Did more submit iCME? EMA Total Not submitted Submitted CME 44 1 45 13% 19 281 300 87% 63 282 345 18% 82% T184 2011E & 2011J presentations

Did students submit iCME first? CME clearly first 214 76% EMA clearly first 9 3% CME & EMA together (<1hr)            58 21% CME slightly earlier 43 15% EMA slightly earlier 15 5% Total 281 100% 91% submitted CME first, 9% submitted EMA first overall, but some submitted ‘together’ T184 2011E & 2011J presentation

T184 2011J Median 18hrs before deadline 60% in final 24hrs 11% submitted in final hour T184 2011J

Median 4 days 15 hrs T184 2011J

Interviews with students I thought the balance of assessment was about the best I’d come across. Interesting computer-based tests … plus the programming elements … an interesting [EMA] with a choice of two essays. … The assessment contributed to the enjoyment of the whole course. By the time I’d finished the assessment I’d felt I’d learnt more. … I also felt fairly confident that I’d got enough marks on the computer based test.

Interviews with students [Early on] get an achievement and get a bit of success, … it was really easy that first CMA. … So an early success and then you know at the end you’ve got some short answers in the CMA that you think pick up your score a bit, and then you’ve got the EMA where you can do even better. I think it’s spot on.

Interviews with students … as long as they feel it’s rigorous … it didn’t have that kind of ITV quiz thing, you know ‘what’s the capital of England’ or something. … There was a combination with ‘you’ve done this bit now, and now you need to tell us about it, now you need to describe it, now you need to do some programming and show us your work’. It felt like there was real rigour to it so it didn’t feel like ‘this is a quick and dirty kind of interactive quiz’.

Interviews with students Student: I think it was excellent. … The only thing I don’t like is having to wait till September for my result! Me: So that’s another reason for introducing that computer marked exam … it gives students feedback immediately rather than a long delay. Student: Yes, so you know where you’ve gone wrong. That’s really good, and it cheers you up as well, not an idiot after all!

Interviews with students “I enjoyed all of it really. I thought the course materials were brilliantly laid out, I thought it was very clear, concise. It gave you enough about the subject to make you interested and wanted you to do more.” “As I say it was a pleasure doing it. I hope I’ve passed, but I just think it was a joy doing it, it was really fun, you learnt something, it really complemented what I learnt last year and it’s just made me keen to do other stuff, or try and find out more about it.”

The end … of T184