1. SFC Project Re-engineering assessments Weekly multi-choice tests

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

3. Consumer Buying Behaviour 2004 - 5  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

4. Previous assessment programme  40% individual diary and essay (2500 words)- week 8 submission  40% 2 hour exam- week 13 -15  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

5. 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)

6. 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%)

7. 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 email attachment to mark on-line and deliver feedback  Formative and summative

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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 email contact which also increased

12. 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

13. 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.

14.  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. 1998 Life Satisfaction and Life Demands in College Students" Social Behaviour and Personality 26:51

15. 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.1999. "A Meta-Analysis of Research on Creativity" PhD diss., Fordham University, New York, NY

16. Because….  Wed, Mar 08, 2006 -- 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

17. 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

18. 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