Phased online summative assessment in undergraduate accounting
This project aimed to address a situation where students were performing poorly not participating in the learning process, and only engaging superficially with the course by setting up a phased online assessment which would provide students with timely feedback to facilitate reflection and encourage active learning, and identify areas wehre additional support was needed .
This project used QMP (Question Mark Perception) a web based tool for management of quizzes suveys and assessments to create question banks, an expert in the software created the question banks, and provided training in the use of QMP software. QMP is a mature product.
Students were offered a choice of paper or online, with the exception of a visually impaired student, all but one students opted for online and the one student who didn't changed his mind for the next test.
Hard copies prepared as contingency in case technical issues provented online delivery of test
Limitations on space in the computer rooms meant that there had to be multiple deliveries of the test, and delivery of the questions were randomised to avoide cheating. Measures were taken to ensure equal distribution of difficulty within the randomised question sets.
Student performance increased on the financial accounting module and students stated that they preferred to be assessed online, that they preferred small tests covering specific areas of the syllabus, and that it helped with time management. Students found the feedback useful for identifying areas of weakness.
The positive comments received from students indicated that they recognised the benefits to be derived from this phased or continuous assessment, suggest that a change in assessment practice has been effective.
The project was also successful in measuring student development and identifying students that were experiencing difficulties in understanding certain topic areas which enabled the tutors to provide appropriate and timely support.
This project did result in an improvement student learning and showed how technology can be used successfully for assessment purposes.
The main costs of this were the time spent in setting up question banks and the cost of the software.
No comments:
Post a Comment