1. Sandra Clarke Head of Department of Law, University of Greenwich
Online Assessment
Sandra Clarke
Head of Department of Law, University of Greenwich

2. Formative and summative
Original Assessment
Based on register of title
Short answer and essay questions
Seen exam January
Online forum for students to ask questions
No notes in exam room
Formative and summative
Huge marking load in January
Long handwritten scripts
Problems

3. Change to online exam in January
Questions seen
MCQ/matching answers unseen
Created on Moodle Quiz
20 questions based around register of title
Online forum remained
Period of eight hours in which to take one hour test
Unsupervised
Formative and summative
Testing understanding rather than recall?
Giving help without giving answer away
Marks very high
Problems
This was hard work to create, but the moodle quiz tool is actually very flexible and powerful. Best to create question categories and then create the quiz – I did it the other way round, which is much harder.
Being based on the register was very difficult – may move away from this in time, though I do like the register being the base for at least some of the questions – so perhaps a hybrid. (10 on the register – seen, plus 10 other unseen questions?).
Teaching more difficult as did not want to give away the answer completely.
Very high marks may have been due to partial marks for almost right answers. This year will move to single best answer.
Pathfinder for other law subjects to use online exams in preparation for the SQE.
Question order and answer order can be randomised.

4. What will be the effect of this notice?
Stem
The Boat House has been sold to Lucy and Francine, who hold the property as joint tenants in law and in equity. In fact, Lucy contributed 75% of the purchase price. Lucy has served a written notice on Francine stating that she now wishes to sever the joint tenancy.
Lead in
What will be the effect of this notice?
Options
A. Lucy and Francine will still be joint tenants at law, holding the land on trust for themselves in equity. Lucy and Francine will now be tenants in common in equity, holding equal shares (50% each).
B. Lucy and Francine will still be joint tenants at law, holding the land on trust for themselves in equity. Lucy and Francine will now be tenants in common in equity, holding shares in proportion to their contributions to the purchase price (75% to Lucy and 25% to Francine).
C. Lucy and Francine will be tenants in common in law and in equity, holding the property in the shares in which they contributed to the property (75% to Lucy and 25% to Francine).
D. The written notice will have no effect, as joint tenancies cannot be severed by written notice.
Case S. and Donahue E. (2008) Developing High-Quality Multiple Choice Questions for Assessment in Legal Education 58 J. Legal Educ
Problems with the stem: Names are used rather than persons; this is ameliorated by the questions being seen questions, so students had time to digest the question and also to ask about any ambiguity. Also, I was attempting to consolidate knowledge, so was happy that they looked up severance. But is this just ‘nitpicky’ knowledge?
Lead in: Ideally, the student should be able to answer the question without the options.
Options: Key and distractors. Distractors need to be plausible, and should not be too different in length etc. Option D is too short, and should be rephrased.
Goodman v Gallant
Deane, Felicity and Bozin, Danielle (2017) "Using Guiding Principles to Construct Effective Multiple Choice Exams to Assess Legal Reasoning," Legal Education Review: Vol. 26 : Iss. 1 , Article 1. Available at:
• A meaningful stem that ideally includes a factual situation (scenario) that is analogous to either a known case or invokes the need for a rule or legislative requirement to be applied. • An answer that requires that a legal rule is applied, which hasn’t been provided in the question, so that students must demonstrate their ability to identify which rule is applicable as part of the legal reasoning process. • Alternatives that are plausible and convincing even if they contain irrelevant information. This means that if a student employs legal reasoning and is able to identify the applicable rule then the correct answer will be obvious but not if the student is less familiar with the rule. 44 Alternative answers must be stated clearly and concisely. • Collegial collaboration in the drafting of stems and alternative answers to ensure error-free questions.

5. Stem (on register) and lead in (seen in advance)
What does entry 3 in the property register mean?  (It begins: ' The land edged and numbered in green ...')
A. The land which is edged in green on the plan is not part of this title any more, but has its own register with the title number shown in green on the plan.
B. The land which is edged in green on the plan forms a separate part of the land in this title, and is subject to different covenants and easements.
C. The land which is edged in green on the plan is subject to a lease in favour of the purchasers.
D. The land which is edged in green on the plan is part of the land in this title and belongs to the registered proprietors named on this property register.
Options (unseen until test)
Problem here with how to give help without giving the game away! Makes it less good as a formative exercise.

6. Conclusions
You can test understanding and application, but framing the questions is difficult; A seen online exam may have been an experiment too far … Avoid partial marks for partially right answers

7. Bibliography
Gibbs, G. and Simpson, C. (2004) ‘Conditions under which assessment supports students’ learning’. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education, Vol.1, pp.3–31. Murtagh, L. and Webster, M. (2010) ‘Scaffolding teaching, learning and assessment in Higher Education’ Teacher Education Advancement Network Journal, Vol. 1, No. 2. REAP Project Chickering, A.W. and Gamson, Z.F. (1987) Seven Principles for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education. AAHE Bulletin, March. Case S. and Donahue E. (2008) Developing High-Quality Multiple Choice Questions for Assessment in Legal Education 58 J. Legal Educ Deane, Felicity and Bozin, Danielle (2017) "Using Guiding Principles to Construct Effective Multiple Choice Exams to Assess Legal Reasoning," Legal Education Review: Vol. 26 : Iss. 1 , Article 1. Available at:

8. School of Law