SFC Project Re-engineering assessments Weekly multi-choice tests

Aims of the project  Improve the quality of student learning  Reduce the cost of instruction (Twigg 2003)  Improve progression rates at first diet

Consumer Buying Behaviour  300 x 2 nd year students in Semester B  Core for Marketing students, option for other degrees  2 x 1 hour lectures per week  16 groups x 1 hour seminar per week  Blackboard support for handbooks, lecture and seminar material, and announcements only

Previous assessment programme  40% individual diary and essay (2500 words)- week 8 submission  40% 2 hour exam- week  20% group paper presentation in seminar class – week 6-12 seminars  Disadvantages: turn around time for 300 essays within 3 weeks was challenging.  Feedback was never put to use  Exam scripts were not picked up by students

Re-engineering assessment  Improve the quality of student learning and encourage active self-assessment  To clarify for the student what good assessment is by delivering high quality feedback  To encourage positive motivational beliefs and self-esteem  (Nicol D & MacFarlane-Dick D., 2005)

Re-engineering assessment  To reduce the cost of module delivery within assessment tasks  Previous cost = 1000 hours staff time for marking  Recommended CBS 3 week turn around time met only by staff working over Easter holidays to mark diary/essays  Delivery to students in week 10 seminar class was too late to improve student performance  High fail rate/non submission at exam 1 st diet (85%)

New assessment strategy 2005/06  Move individual essay/diary to group assessment (4-6 students per group)  3 learning papers each group (25% per paper) with deep learning in chosen area  Detailed feedback for each paper informing next submission  Using attachment to mark on-line and deliver feedback  Formative and summative

New assessment strategy 2005/06 part 2  Weekly MCQ test on previous week’s lecture material  10 questions weekly  Randomised but not timed  Only one attempt allowed  Student must sit 10 out of 12 possible tests  Broad learning over module  Formative and summative

Benefits of weekly tests  Student is more involved with core text  Learning is repeated by student’s reading prior to, or during, test  Student forced to complete test within 2 week timeframe  Full immediate feedback of score, incorrect choice identified and correct answer given  Student sees score increase week by week  Competitive aspect between students, and with student competing with self

Using publisher’s material  Advantages:  no cost to university  quality is good/ no staff training required  highly related to core text  Disadvantages:  proposed initial cost to student  Compatibility with GCU blackboard  focuses student on one text

Increased use of Blackboard  Used for all areas as before – but also  On-line tests available  Grade book to monitor student performance  On-line activities available (non assessed)  Much higher level of contact with students  Impacted on student contact which also increased

Encouraging self-esteem and motivation  Weekly happy tip  Sourced from refereed journals, written in every day English  Cheered everyone up  Showed site was “live”  Focused on positive actions students could take

Diary example 7 th March 06  With tongue in cheek I offer you these pieces of research:  "Busy is better than bored."  "Find something to do, because the feeling that we have too much to do is much more pleasing than the feeling that we have nothing to do. A philosopher once noted that people long for immortality but run out of things to do on a rainy afternoon.

 In studies of students, those with more demanding schedules were 15% more satisfied with life. Despite the more demanding schedules, the individuals studied did not experience any more stress than those with less to do." Bailey, R. and Miller, C Life Satisfaction and Life Demands in College Students" Social Behaviour and Personality 26:51

Next happy tip  “Keep reading"  "Reading engages the mind. Reading materials, by exercising our memory and imagination, can contribute to happiness in ways similar to active positive thinking. Regular readers are about 8 % more likely to express daily satisfaction." Scope, E "A Meta-Analysis of Research on Creativity" PhD diss., Fordham University, New York, NY

Because….  Wed, Mar 08, Time Management Here is a gentle reminder that the 17th of March is the date for the first group coursework paper to be submitted. It is also the date that tests 2 and 3 will be closed off. So in order to avoid massive panic try not to leave everything to the last minute. A x

Student feedback  “Online assessments were very useful as it allowed the student to learn one topic at a time, instead of having to learn the entire module before an exam” student 1  “75% groupwork is extremely unfair” student 2

Review for 2006/07 1.Investigate peer evaluation of one paper 2. on-line testing trial week for students during first week 3. Checking technology with student account prior to live show 4, tighter deadlines