Effective Practice with e-Assessment: An overview of ... - Jisc

It is estimated that around 70-80,000 e-assessments took place at
Loughborough University in 2006.
Embedding an institutional policy
for e-assessment
Loughborough University
Background
Loughborough University has been developing and refining
e-assessment practice since 1996. Large-scale deployment
of e-assessment is now a reality rather than a vision – it is
estimated that around 70-80,000 e-assessments took place
at Loughborough University in 2006.
Technologies, systems and policies
Developments have been driven, as elsewhere in the sector,
by the desire to reduce marking workload, while also
achieving appropriate and rapid feedback for students.
The focus of work has been on three fronts: increasing the
efficiency and usability of systems, responding to a need for
greater sophistication in questioning techniques, and
dealing with the logistical issues arising from increasing
demand for e-assessment.
In a range of strategies for computer-based assessment,
objective tests have been used in conjunction with case
studies to assess responses to complex scenarios, online
surveys to establish levels of knowledge prior to the course,
and confidence-based marking to test the level of certainty
a student has in a selected answer.
However, increased numbers have meant that computerassisted
approaches using optical mark readers also play a
vital part in a holistic policy for e-assessment. A system has
been devised for optical data capture using Remark Classic
OMR ® software and has been refined over time to provide
opportunities to assess higher order skills. This paperbased
solution avoids the need for large-scale, high-security
IT suites and complex contingency plans. It is also popular
with staff and students.
An e-assessment system, however, is only as good as
the content on it and the vision and skill of its users.
Appropriate compulsory training for users, combined with
clear definitions of roles and responsibilities across teams
and departments, are also considered by Loughborough
University to be key to the successful implementation
of e-assessment.
For these reasons, Loughborough uses both computerbased
and computer-assisted assessments. Paper-based
optical data capture, in which scripts are scanned and
digitised, occurs alongside computer-based assessments
developed and delivered though Questionmark
Perception .
Rethinking assessment practice
Loughborough University has used Questionmark
Perception since 1999. As part of an earlier JISC-funded
project, Questionmark Perception was embedded into an
emerging managed learning environment with single login.
Each student then received an individualised menu of
assessments depending on their course registrations.
This system is used for objective diagnostic, formative and
low-stakes summative assessments. Being web-based, the
assessments can be accessed from anywhere and at any
time. Major users have been modern foreign languages,
chemistry, mathematics and engineering departments.
An example of a fill-in-the-blanks question from a statistics and
chemometrics test devised at Loughborough University.
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