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
Traditional method of assessing practicals
What is provided for each student?
• Monitor• Headphones
Students can use the screen to access WebLearn and the Internet.
EDP083N Managing the Assessment Process Presentation: The use of WebLearn to assess practicals Amanda Wilson-Kennard; Mei Yen Chan; Eileen Smith & George Worthington
Traditional method of assessing practicals
Two formats:• Datasheet• Practical write-up or
report
EDP083N Managing the Assessment Process Presentation: The use of WebLearn to assess practicals Amanda Wilson-Kennard; Mei Yen Chan; Eileen Smith & George Worthington
Practical assessments are usually summative with formative feedback.
Traditional method of assessing practicalsInstructions for a practical report
EDP083N Managing the Assessment Process Presentation: The use of WebLearn to assess practicals Amanda Wilson-Kennard; Mei Yen Chan; Eileen Smith & George Worthington
Traditional method of assessing practicals
Immediate• Time Management• Analytical• Protocol• Results• Discussion
Postponed• Research• Analysis• Presentation• Reflection
Alternative submissions – what are we assessing?
EDP083N Managing the Assessment Process Presentation: The use of WebLearn to assess practicals Amanda Wilson-Kennard; Mei Yen Chan; Eileen Smith & George Worthington
Traditional method of assessing practicals
• Marking practicals
• Provide feedback• Clear explanations
• Timely
• Constructive
• 20 mins per student
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 e-Assessment?
• Using ICT for presenting assessments and recording responses
EDP083N Managing the Assessment Process Presentation: The use of WebLearn to assess practicals Amanda Wilson-Kennard; Mei Yen Chan; Eileen Smith & George Worthington
“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
EDP083N Managing the Assessment Process Presentation: The use of WebLearn to assess practicals Amanda Wilson-Kennard; Mei Yen Chan; Eileen Smith & George Worthington
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
EDP083N Managing the Assessment Process Presentation: The use of WebLearn to assess practicals Amanda Wilson-Kennard; Mei Yen Chan; Eileen Smith & George Worthington
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
EDP083N Managing the Assessment Process Presentation: The use of WebLearn to assess practicals Amanda Wilson-Kennard; Mei Yen Chan; Eileen Smith & George Worthington
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
EDP083N Managing the Assessment Process Presentation: The use of WebLearn to assess practicals Amanda Wilson-Kennard; Mei Yen Chan; Eileen Smith & George Worthington
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
EDP083N Managing the Assessment Process Presentation: The use of WebLearn to assess practicals Amanda Wilson-Kennard; Mei Yen Chan; Eileen Smith & George Worthington
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
Amanda Wilson-Kennard; Mei Yen Chan; Eileen Smith & George Worthington
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
EDP083N Managing the Assessment Process Presentation: The use of WebLearn to assess practicals Amanda Wilson-Kennard; Mei Yen Chan; Eileen Smith & George Worthington
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
class
EDP083N Managing the Assessment Process Presentation: The use of WebLearn to assess practicals Amanda Wilson-Kennard; Mei Yen Chan; Eileen Smith & George Worthington
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
Amanda Wilson-Kennard; Mei Yen Chan; Eileen Smith & George Worthington
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
Amanda Wilson-Kennard; Mei Yen Chan; Eileen Smith & George Worthington
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
Amanda Wilson-Kennard; Mei Yen Chan; Eileen Smith & George Worthington
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!!!
EDP083N Managing the Assessment Process Presentation: The use of WebLearn to assess practicals Amanda Wilson-Kennard; Mei Yen Chan; Eileen Smith & George Worthington
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
EDP083N Managing the Assessment Process Presentation: The use of WebLearn to assess practicals Amanda Wilson-Kennard; Mei Yen Chan; Eileen Smith & George Worthington
Comments taken from the student feedback question
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
EDP083N Managing the Assessment Process Presentation: The use of WebLearn to assess practicals Amanda Wilson-Kennard; Mei Yen Chan; Eileen Smith & George Worthington
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!!!
EDP083N Managing the Assessment Process Presentation: The use of WebLearn to assess practicals Amanda Wilson-Kennard; Mei Yen Chan; Eileen Smith & George Worthington
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
EDP083N Managing the Assessment Process Presentation: The use of WebLearn to assess practicals Amanda Wilson-Kennard; Mei Yen Chan; Eileen Smith & George Worthington
Comments taken from the student feedback question
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
EDP083N Managing the Assessment Process Presentation: The use of WebLearn to assess practicals Amanda Wilson-Kennard; Mei Yen Chan; Eileen Smith & George Worthington