2. learning enhancement unit Centre for Learning and Teaching 20 October, 2015 Staff Education: Learning about Online Assessment - Online David Walker, Margaret Adamson Richard Parsons University of Dundee caa@dundee.ac.uk 

3. learning enhancement unit Centre for Learning and Teaching 20 October, 2015 Online Assessment: The Student Experience A Dundee student recently said: “Taking an exam online feels a lot more natural to me because I’m used to sitting and working in the IT suites. In an exam hall I feel much more stressed because it’s so unfamiliar.”

4. learning enhancement unit Centre for Learning and Teaching 20 October, 2015 Online Assessment: The Staff Experience At Dundee we have put in place:  Quality Software  Quality Hardware  Pedagogic and technical support  Clear Policy and Procedures  Integrated Learning Environment The limiting factor remains staff perception and staff skills – we aim to address this with staff education

5. learning enhancement unit Centre for Learning and Teaching 20 October, 2015 Introducing ‘ Assessment Online’  Established in 2002  5 week staff education course  Participants study online for 3 to 6 hours a week  Run by elearning professionals with support from academic ‘practitioners’

6. learning enhancement unit Centre for Learning and Teaching 20 October, 2015 Why an online course?  We aim to make the online environment as natural for staff as it is for students  Tuition in online assessment is naturally suited to the online environment  Can demonstrate the use of advanced tools and approaches to online assessment  Staff gain a student insight into elearning  Establish relationships, trust and mutual respect

7. learning enhancement unit Centre for Learning and Teaching 20 October, 2015 What are the advantages?  Time of participant’s choosing – try scheduling a staff development to suit 20 people  Place of participant’s choosing, utilising their hardware and resources  Pace appropriate for their experience. Longer in some parts, quicker in other parts  Facilitates greater collaboration  We learn about teaching and learning online

8. learning enhancement unit Centre for Learning and Teaching 20 October, 2015 So what does the course cover? Two Key Streams: 1.Pedagogy of online assessment 2.Technicalities of assessing online  General assessment issues  Good question/assessment design  Procedures in authoring and delivering  Analysis of student answers and assessment lifecycle  Complexity and future of online assessment

9. learning enhancement unit Centre for Learning and Teaching 20 October, 2015 How is it assessed?  Weekly assignments  Progressive build up of knowledge and skills  Advanced activities  End of course single-attempt exam – online!

10. learning enhancement unit Centre for Learning and Teaching 20 October, 2015 Does it work? Yes – for most Partially – for others

11. learning enhancement unit Centre for Learning and Teaching 20 October, 2015 What do the staff think? Positive Like the depth and the understanding they gain Learn a lot about how may students might feel about using the VLE Learn that Online Assessment is more flexible than they thought Negative Required knowledge and technical skills beyond capabilities Due to other commitments could not complete the course

12. learning enhancement unit Centre for Learning and Teaching 20 October, 2015 What becomes of our graduates?  About 40 to 50 % go on immediately to use OA with their students  Feedbacks suggests they improve their own online courses  Keep in contact with all graduates, and some start to produce assessments  Used as an illustration of their professional development

13. learning enhancement unit Centre for Learning and Teaching 20 October, 2015 What have we learnt?  Participants must recognise that the course requires regular quality time  Group work important for motivating many participants  Be clear/strict about structures and deadlines  Enhanced with wider participation  Staff are the subject experts  Technical skills and resources can be limiting  Staff do behave like students

14. learning enhancement unit Centre for Learning and Teaching 20 October, 2015 What next?  Course has been validated and accredited (10 ScotCat Points)  Required participant commitment made more transparent  Participants from other universities welcomed  An advanced eLearning course We continue to make the online environment a more natural place in which to teach, learn and grow.

15. learning enhancement unit Centre for Learning and Teaching 20 October, 2015 To Summarise… Assessment hardware design & deployment Staff education Central assessment support Assessment software design & deployment Learning systems integration Clear policy and procedures

16. learning enhancement unit Centre for Learning and Teaching 20 October, 2015 Further Information  Course runs biannually  Next start date is 10 th November 2004  Further information: caa@dundee.ac.uk www.dundee.ac.uk/learning/dol/