WebLearn to assess practicals

The use of WebLearn to assess practicals

PRESENTED BY:Amanda Wilson-Kennard; Mei Yen Chan; Eileen Smith & George Worthington

Traditional method of assessing practicals

• Traditionally, what is the method of assessing practicals?

• Assessment scenario• How many students?• What can occur in

the space at the same time?

EDP083N Managing the Assessment Process Presentation: The use of WebLearn to assess practicals Amanda Wilson-Kennard; Mei Yen Chan; Eileen Smith & George Worthington

What is provided for each student?

• Monitor• Headphones

Students can use the screen to access WebLearn and the Internet.

Two formats:• Datasheet• Practical write-up or

report

Practical assessments are usually summative with formative feedback.

Traditional method of assessing practicalsInstructions for a practical report

Immediate• Time Management• Analytical• Protocol• Results• Discussion

Postponed• Research• Analysis• Presentation• Reflection

Alternative submissions – what are we assessing?

• Marking practicals

• Provide feedback• Clear explanations

• Timely

• Constructive

• 20 mins per student

What is e-Assessment?

• Using ICT for presenting assessments and recording responses

“The issue for e-assessment is not if it will happen, but rather, what, when and how it will happen.”

(Ridgway, J. and McCusker, S., September 2007. e-Assessment Executive summary. Available: http://www.futurelab.org.uk

/resources/publications-reports-articles/literature-reviews/Literature-Review204/. Last accessed 5 Jan 2009)

Why and how e-Assessment can be used?• Types of assessment

• Interact with simulations and submit results• Submit web pages for peer evaluation• Using computers to create sounds for

students to replicate then gauges similarities

• Presentations via web or powerpoint • MCQ’s• Group collaboration

Motivation for using e-Assessment• Increasing student numbers• Increasing workload on staff• Students expect prompt, appropriate

and effective feedback• Can identify points for student

development• Cognitive conflict for students• Aligning teaching and assessment

Advantages of e-Assessment• Carefully constructed MCQ’s can test higher

order skills according to Blooms taxonomy• Increase frequency of feedback• Immediate feedback to staff• Broaden range of knowledge assessed• Allows rehearsal and revision• Allows evaluation of a course’s strengths and

weaknesses• Can be linked to other computer-based or on-

line materialEDP083N Managing the Assessment Process Presentation: The use of WebLearn to assess practicals

Amanda Wilson-Kennard; Mei Yen Chan; Eileen Smith & George Worthington

Disadvantages of e-Assessment• Question design

• MCQ’s may only test factual knowledge

• Can take some time to initially set up• Plagiarism• Equity and diversity• Issues of equivalence• Attracts greater scrutiny

How can e-Assessments be used to assess a practical?Examples of e-Assessment in practicals• Online assessment of practicals. https://

dspace.lboro.ac.uk/dspace-jspui/handle/2134/1930.

• E-Assessment: Has Scotland Got It Right? Available: http://www.e-assessmentgroup.net/scholar_newsletter.pdf

Pros and Cons of assessing students in practicals

• Four practicals over semester• No time allowed for summative assessment of

practicals, therefore all assessment had to be formative

• Majority practical attendance was mandatory to pass module (3 of 4)

Practical ideas for Clinical Biochemistry - Real life examples

Practical set up• 2 hours for practical• Students work in pairs to complete

practical work• Completion of online quiz via Virtual

Learning Environment in timeframe• Attendance monitored via successful

completion of quiz• No practical write up required with

moduleEDP083N Managing the Assessment Process Presentation: The use of WebLearn to assess practicals

The Quiz• 10-12 questions

• Mix of MCQs, short answer and matching pairs• Automatically graded

• 4-5 relating directly to results obtained in practical

• Remaining questions relate to subject area of practical

• Final question each week is for student feedback about practical/quiz

Practical advantages• No MarkingNo Marking• Student understanding of subject is

enhanced by:• Instant feedback on each question• Lecturers/tutors were on hand at the time

the students are answering the questions• Students had to read around the topic in

Practical advantages• Peace and quiet; Most science practicals

have some waiting time, during this time the students are working rather than talking.

• The quizzes are time released so they can only be done during the time of the practical; Non completion = non attendance

• No MarkingNo MarkingEDP083N Managing the Assessment Process Presentation: The use of WebLearn to assess practicals

Practical Disadvantages• Writing the quiz can take time

• 4 quizzes took roughly 1 week to complete and check, including questions and feedback

• 100 students = 2000 minutes (33hrs) of marking (20 mins each)

• Following years, very little time to update or change quizzes

• Overall time of the practical “Time given was short, to both carryout the

practical and answer the questions” (student submitted quiz at 17:32. They had

until 18:00)EDP083N Managing the Assessment Process Presentation: The use of WebLearn to assess practicals

Practical e-Assessment considerations

• Problems seen with questions relating to the practical• Not all practicals work• Questions based on practical results don’t always

work• Can be rectified by the use of ‘expected results’ on

time release towards end of the practical• Students should be discouraged from taking

books into the lab.• Subject lectures must be scheduled before the

quiz.EDP083N Managing the Assessment Process Presentation: The use of WebLearn to assess practicals

Comments taken from the student feedback questionClues given under some of the questions assisted with answering the questions!

Was very fun and put us on the spot to learn things by looking for the answers yourselves.

The quiz was well related to the practical was able to understand the practical well

Was able to finish q. George was helpful, together with other supervisors. learned a lot. Thanks

The quiz should be more specific to the practical, not something outside the practical

I just guessed most of my answers during all these practicals and I will remember very little of what we did.

Its been very worth while as I am able to put the knowlwde gained from lectures into practice.

The new system is really hard to focus on! not enough time to complete the questions!!!

Comments taken from the student feedback question

The questions on weblearn made me scratch my head

These quiz helps the student to go back from lecture notes and think about it

This is the most straight forward practical so far and also it was very educative

It was a good self assessment

It was well leistered and easy to follow i enjoy it

Interesting quiz and the practical is quite straight forward

By doing this quiz is helping us to do more research

ENJIOYED IT

The quiz was a bit just a little bit outside the practical. but the practical procedures were easy to follow. thanks

If we have these information on the lecture notes, this would help us to understand the practical more. Thanks

HelpfulIt was lovely

The questions 1 and did not incorporate the possibility that the results might have been different from the predicted ones

The quiz makes you learn more about certain conditions which you won't normally look into. Excellent stuff

Stressing because we had to do the practical and the quiz but good overall!

The quiz is straight forward because most of the question is based on the practical

The practical was informative and interesting

This PRACTICAL and the QUIZ were very useful and interesting