Supporting Institutions with e-Assessment

1. Supporting Institutions with e-Assessment Sarah Knight and Denise Whitelock Joint Information Systems Committee Supporting education and research

2. e-Assessment in context • “assessment is one of the most powerful drivers of innovation and change in education, as it defines the goals for both learners and teachers’. • Towards a Unified e-Learning Strategy, DfES 2004

3. JISC Priority areas • JISC activity in e-assessment covers diagnostic testing, formative and summative assessment; self-evaluation and peer assessment • Three areas for investigation: • Institutional issues: • organisation, management, implementation • Technical issues: • infrastructure, delivery, security • content design, presentation, item bank use • Pedagogical issues: • new opportunities for learning and teaching • e-assessment is pedagogically sound, learner-focused and accessible.

4. Current JISC e-assessment activities • Glossary of e-assessment terminology used across UK schools, colleges and universities – in collaboration with QCA. See http://www.3sq.co.uk/e-assessmentglossary.htm • 15 Case studies of innovative e-assessment practice from across the UK post-16 and HE sectors which highlight pedagogical and institutional issues. • e-Assessment Roadmap – a strategic overview of e-assessment developments for the UK post-16 and HE sectors. See http://kn.open.ac.uk/public/index.cfm?wpid=4996

5. An example of innovative practice Active Collaborative Learning University of Strathclyde The video clip is available for downloading together with the PDF version of the case study From ‘Innovative Practice with e-Learning’, JISC (2005)

6. Group Activity A • Working in groups of 4, each group will be allocated one of the three questions below: • Question 1: Identify three barriers and three drivers for e-assessment • Question 2: What makes for effective e-assessment practice? • Question 3: Where can examples of effective practice with e-assessment be observed? • Please record your answers on the activity sheet.

7. Group Activity B • Describe your vision for e-assessment for the post-16 sector? • What support do institutions require in order for this vision to be achieved?

8. Support from JISC Services • Netskills workshop on Assessment and Communications for e-Learning • http://www.netskills.ac.uk • JISCinfoNet – Effective use of VLEs Infokit offers information on e-assessment • http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk • CETIS Assessment Special Interest Group has been set up to monitor CAA-based interoperability initiatives for FE and HE practitioners in the UK, ensuring that members are kept informed of activities in standards and specifications • http://assessment.cetis.ac.uk

9. 'Students can, with difficulty, escape from the effects of poor teaching, they cannot (by definition if they want to graduate) escape the effects of poor assessment'. To conclude… Boud, D. (1995a). Assessment and learning: contradictory or complementary? In P. Knight (Ed.) Assessment for Learning in Higher Education. London

10. Further information s.knight@jisc.ac.uk and D.M.Whitelock@open.ac.uk www.jisc.ac.uk/elearning_pedagogy.html www.jisc.ac.uk/elearning_innovation.htmlwww.jisc.ac.uk/elearningfocus eped-info@jiscmail.ac.uk