Assessment resources
JISC and the Higher Education Academy are collaborating to implement the Higher Education Funding Council for England’s (HEFCE) e-Learning Strategy and 2009 UK policy update statement. The collaboration comprises the two organisations and their networks, including JISC’s Services and Regional Support Centres and Academy Subject Centres. One of the aims of the collaboration is to improve access to the wealth of relevant resources produced and funded by JISC and the Academy, and to highlight those of particular interest to practitioners working in further and higher education. This overview paper (with supporting web pages) is one of a series of four on the themes of Assessment, Supporting Academic Staff, Work-Related Learning and The Student Learning Experience
This paper highlights a selection of JISC and Higher Education Academy resources and activities relevant to using technology to support assessment. While this is not a comprehensive guide it provides an overview of the resources available. Further information can be found using the search facility on the Academy and JISC websites.
Technology has extended the range of assessment techniques available. Assessments can be made more realistic and hence more valid, particularly in applied disciplines. Students can be presented with multimedia questions, or even simulations, and responses can be interactive. Online tools are making it easier to assess group work.
Using technology to enhance assessment can offer efficiency and effectiveness benefits to both teachers and students, for example marking can be automated and feedback delivered more promptly. Although increases in staff workload are common during the development phase of a new e-assessment programme, efficiency savings may be realised when the programme is up and running.
Guidance is available from both JISC and the Academy for institutions and educators interested in introducing innovative e-assessment strategies.
The big picture
If you want to know what e-assessment is about, the guide Effective Practice with e-Assessment is a good place to start. Written for a non-technical audience, it covers technologies, policies and practice.
e-Assessment: An Overview of JISC Activities provides a summary of JISC’s work in the area of e-assessment.
The use of technology in assessment is covered in an excellent analytical review of the rich and varied UK literature on ‘innovative assessment’. The articles reviewed include guidance material, practitioners’ accounts, reports of empirical research and pedagogical perspectives.
Subject Centre resources
The Academy Subject Centres are an excellent place to look for resources and guidance tailored to a specific academic discipline. They provide support which is directly relevant to professional practice and grounded in pedagogical theory. Subject Centre activities include supporting small software development projects and studies of innovative practice as well as publishing good practice guidance and case studies.
Tools and technologies
Practical resources include a growing number of question banks and collections of reusable learning objects. Subject Centres are often the best place to find these discipline-specific resources, but a couple of examples are highlighted below.
Online Greek and Latin exercises keyed to commonly used textbooks.
A physical science database of questions which can be exported in different formats for use in a variety of assessment systems.
JISC CETIS provides information about tools developed by JISC-funded projects and links to many additional resources for technical developers. JISC CETIS hosts a Special Interest Group on assessment, and an assessment wiki.
Guidance
JISC infoNet has produced an infoKit on Effective use of Virtual Learning Environments which includes guidance on choosing, designing and using e-assessment tools and links to useful follow-up resources.
JISC Netskills provides a range of training, materials and accreditation to underpin the area of e-assessment.
JISC TechDis has comprehensive information for both practitioners and developers on making assessments accessible.
A series of guides and briefings on a range of assessment topics, issued by the Learning Teaching Support Network (LTSN) Generic Centre, are available.
Plagiarism
PlagiarismAdvice.org (formerly the JISC Plagiarism Advisory Service) offers a wide variety of resources, including a Good Practice Guide and briefing papers which cover assessment design, advice for students and data protection issues.
Plagiarism detection software to tackle ‘cut and paste’ plagiarism and provide formative support for students is now widely available, including Turnitin which is endorsed by JISC. A range of support materials and case studies are available.
Higher Education Academy resources on plagiarism and assessment are available.
The Higher Education Academy and JISC have established the Academy JISC Academic Integrity Service (AJAIS) to help promote a culture of academic integrity in UK higher education.
Case studies
Case studies are a good way to get a flavour of new assessment practices. They will tell you about educational impact, motivations for change and the technical and managerial issues that had to be tackled during implementation.
A series of 13 case studies from Welsh educational institutions on the theme of e-assessment include projects on e-submission, interactive voting systems, formative assessment, peer assessment, phased online summative assessment and designing out plagiarism.
The Academy’s English Subject Centre has published two case studies on e-Assessment: Using Screen Capture Software in Student Feedback and Using Blogs for Peer Feedback.
Exploring Tangible Benefits of e-Learning, developed by JISC infoNet, the Higher Education Academy and the Association for Learning Technology (ALT), includes case studies relating to e-assessment.
Further resources
This overview mentions only a few of the resources available from JISC and the Academy. We hope it will encourage readers to explore what’s available in more detail.
The Academy’s information sheet on assessment resources
Academy Subject Centres
Search Academy/JISC resources for assessment