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Online Assessment Resources

Why use online assessment

Some types of online tests can be automatically graded, reducing your marking time and allowing you to conduct more regular assessment in your course. In addition, it allows you to use a variety of assessment methods. Depending on how you choose to incorporate online assessments in your overall assessment strategy, online assessment can lead to more prepared students and it can help your students to understand the module content better. Online assessment can be used particularly effectively in formative assessment.

Methods and implementation ideas

Types of online assessment

Different universities make use of different learning management systems, each with its own online assessment tools. The following are three of the most widely accessible online assessment tools available on various institutional LMSs:

Online tests/quizzes

What is it?

An online test (or quiz) is a test that is created and completed on a computer or other electronic device. While most online test platforms allows for open-ended questions, such as essay type questions, it most commonly consists of objective question types. One of the biggest advantages of an online test that consists of objective question types is that it is usually set up to be marked automatically by the system, which saves a lot of time in marking! Most online test platforms allow you to set up individualised feedback per question which is important in any assessment, but often difficult when you have to assess large groups. Another advantage of online tests is the ease of analysing your results through item-analysis.

How to use it?

Online tests or quizzes are generally formative assessment activities. It can provide students with more regular opportunities to gauge whether they understand the content. Here are some ideas for using online tests as part of your overall assessment strategy:

Diagnostic assessment: An assessment your students have to complete at the beginning of a course to check prior knowledge.
Preparation quiz: A short (usually informal) quiz students have to complete before class to help them prepare for class. This works well as part of a flipped classroom as well where students have to work through content before attending class.
Quiz after a unit of work has been completed: to test students’ understanding of the content completed. This again does not have to be a very long test, it can consist of 10 to 20 questions about the work that has been covered in a unit / chapter.
Class test: If it is possible for you to conduct your class in a computer lab, you can make use of the opportunity to have your students complete a class test online. This option can also work if you have ubiquitous Wi-Fi access on your campus and if your students have access to smartphones as most online test platforms is also mobile-friendly.
Practical: If your students have to complete practical assessments, you can consider converting some of these to online assessments.

LMS-specific resources

Blackboard

How to add and edit quizzes, add questions, and grade quizzes in Blackboard.

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Moodle

More on quiz settings, building a quiz, and using a quiz in Moodle.

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Sakai

Sakai community documentation on how to use the tests and quizzes tool.

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Respondus

Respondus quick start guide and user guides for various LMSs.

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Assignments

What is it?

While assignments are a well-known assessment activity, having your students submit an assignment through the LMS allows additional options and flexibility. Firstly, it allows you to manage the submissions effectively as all assignments are stored in one place. It is also easy to quickly track which students did not submit the assignment. Secondly, in addition to text-based submissions, audio and/ or video submissions are possible which is especially useful in some disciplines. Since the assignment instructions are also uploaded to the LMS and need not be printed which saves printing costs for the department. Further costs are saved if the assignments are marked with a rubric online, which, in most LMSs, form part of the assignment tool.

How to use it?

Here are some ideas for using online assignments as part of your overall assessment strategy:

Essay: There are various types of essays (including descriptive, narrative, and critical essays) but mainly you will require your students to write an essay to convey their understanding of a topic.
Case study: A detailed, in-depth exploration of a phenomenon.
Annotated Bibliography: A brief summary of a list of references together with an unbiased opinion of the credibility of the author and/ or source, as well as an evaluation of the usefulness of the source for a particular research project or task.
Reflection: Reflection is an important part of learning. You can require your students to reflect at different times throughout a course through a reflective journal that can be submitted as an assignment or a number of assignments. Some LMSs (like Blackboard) also has a specific tool for the submission of journals that can be used instead of the regular assignment tool.
Poster: Posters require students to communicate their understanding of an idea in a concise and creative way. There are several user-friendly, free online tools available to students for creating innovative posters (see additional resources). Electronic posters can be submitted as a Word/ PDF document.
Portfolios: are a good way to allow students to collect and organise samples of work over time (usually the duration of a course). Portfolios can consist of various media (such as images, text documents, short video and/ or audio clips) and submitted as an assignment on the LMS.
Video/ Audio submission: Digital stories or video diaries submitted on the LMS are much easier to manage than having students submit these with a flash drive or CD for instance.

LMS-specific resources

Blackboard

Creating, grading, and downloading assignments on Blackboard.

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Moodle

Quick guide to using the assignment activity on Moodle.

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Sakai

Sakai community documentation on how to use the assignment tool.

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General assignment resources

Ten different types of essays.

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Case study method for descriptive research and its uses.

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Free tools for students to create posters:

Canva Piktochart Inkscape

Online discussion forums

What is it?

A lecturer poses a question or puts up a topic for discussion / debate and students respond to the question / topic and can respond to other students’ responses. It is an asynchronous discussion over a set period of time, which means that unlike a chat, not everyone needs to be online at the same time. The benefits of an online discussion forum, include that it allows students to reflect before submitting a response, students learn from viewing and responding to other students, and students who may be shy or unlikely to participate in a face-to-face environment may feel more comfortable to contribute in an online environment.

How to use it?

Opinion based on a topic: students can read an article or case study based on the module content and then provide their opinions on certain aspects of it
Debate: discussion forums are an effective tool for debating a topic where students have to defend their points of view with facts and relevant references
WebQuest: a task that requires students to consult sources from the internet to demonstrate their understanding of a topic or to explain a concept. Also see the additional resources for ideas on how to incorporate this type of activity in your teaching
Role playing: students do research on a person and write entries as if they are the person they did research about.
Informal discussion forums: More informal discussion forums where students can interact with each other about the module content are useful to create class community. If you want to use an informal discussion forum as an assessment activity, you can consider allocating a participation mark only for this type of activity.

LMS-specific resources

Blackboard

Creating and managing discussion boards on Blackboard.

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Moodle

How to use the discussion forum activity in Moodle.

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Sakai

Using the Forums tool in Sakai.

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General discussion forum resources

How to get students to participate in online discussions.

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How to facilitate robust discussions online.

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The method and means to grading student participation in online discussions.

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Case study of a lecturer who used a discussion forum and the lessons she learned.

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Generating and Facilitating Engaging and Effective Online Discussions by University of Oregon Teaching Effectiveness Program.

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More information on WebQuests.

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Objective vs Subjective question types

Objective vs Subjective question types
Before you start using online assessment, it is important to consider what you want to achieve with the assessment. This will help you choose the tools and methods that will help you to achieve your assessment goals. A common misconception about online assessment is that your test will be automatically graded. Reducing marking time is also the most common incentive for starting to use online assessment. The fact is that only some question types are marked automatically by an online assessment platform such as an LMS. This is where objective vs subjective questioning plays an important role. The difference between these two question types are:

Objective question types require students to select a response from a list of alternatives provided to them or to supply a word or short phrase. Only one correct answer is identified. Subjective question types allows a student to organise an original answer, using their own words. These answers are usually longer (such as a paragraph or a couple of sentences).

Therefore, if the purpose for using online assessment is to reduce marking time and to have an online assessment program mark for you, you need to make use of objective question types. Subjective question types are not marked automatically by any platform. You will always need to mark subjective question types yourself, usually the marking can be alleviated by creating a rubric.

Objective question types
The most well-known and commonly used objective question type, is a multiple choice question which is a question with a number of options of which a student must select the correct or most correct option. There are, however, typically many other objective question types available to use on an online assessment platform such as Respondus or an LMS, which allow you to use a wide spectrum of different types of questioning in your test. In addition, online assessment provides several options for multiple choice questions that are not necessarily practical or feasible in a written format. All of the objective question types shown in this section will be automatically marked.

Multiple choice questions (MCQ)
A simple example of a multiple choice question is the following:

You can do more with a MCQ online, however. For instance, consider using an image as part of the question, or a short video or audio clip (see examples here). Multiple choice questions can also be developed to test higher-order thinking.

Multiple response questions
A multiple response question is similar to a multiple choice question but instead of having to choose one option from a list, a student is required to choose more than one of the options.

A simple example of a multiple response question is the following:

As with a MCQ, you can incorporate images, videos or audio clips as part of your multiple response questions.

Matching questions
Matching questions are similar to match the column questions sometimes also used in written assessments.

A simple example of a matching question is the following:

Match the capital cities in the column on the left, to the countries in the column on the right:

A matching question can be more difficult if there are some extra options in one column that do not have a match in the other column, such as in the following example:

Match the capital cities in the column on the left, to the countries in the column on the right:

In addition, matching questions do not only have to be questions with single words in each column. Instead, a single word or phrase can be used in one column to describe an explanation or description in another column. Another option is using images in one column and short descriptions in the other column. Matching questions are often used to test not only knowledge recall but also application of knowledge. Here are some examples of different types of matching questions. It is important to note that the assessment program (both Blackboard and Questionmark) automatically shuffles one of the two columns so that each students who completes an assessment sees a different order.

Ranking question
A ranking question requires a student to rank steps of a process or order of events in the correct sequence. An example of a simple ranking question is:

Select the correct order of the following significant events in world history:

Instead of one or two words, a short phrase or paragraph can also be used in the left column of a ranking question (to describe a step in a process for instance) in order to make the question more complex. It is important to note that the assessment program (both Blackboard and Questionmark) automatically shuffles the column on the left so that each students who completes an assessment sees a different order.

Select a blank question
A select a blank question is a longer question, usually in a paragraph format, with multiple answers. This question type is not commonly available on all online assessment platforms, but it is available on Questionmark, for example.

An example of a simple select a blank question is:

Human Resources Management consists of various processes within an organisation. The process aimed at attracting applicants that match job criteria is known as [Recruitment/ Selection/ Hiring/ Remuneration Management/ Training and Development/ Performance Management/ Employee relations]. The aim of [Recruitment/ Selection/ Performance Management/ Remuneration Management/ Employee Relations] is to evaluate performance in order to reward good performance and address poor performance. [Recruitment/ Selection/ Hiring/ Remuneration Management/ Training and Development/ Performance Management/ Employee relations] is the process that involves determining salaries, incentives, and fringe benefits.

With this question students are provided with a list of possible answers for each ‘blank space’ in the question. This is an alternative to the better-known fill in the blank question. The advantage of this question, however, is that grading the correct answer is not influenced by incorrect spelling or synonyms of the correct answer. With a fill in the blank question students can easily make a spelling or typing error and will then not receive a mark as the system only recognises key words as identified by the lecturer as correct answers. Students also sometimes use synonyms for the identified key words, which is also not recognised by the system. The select a blank question eliminates these potential issues when a list of potential options is provided for each blank space in the question.

Hotspot question
A hotspot question allows a student to click somewhere on an image to indicate an answer. The system automatically gives a mark if the student clicks within a predetermined area but receives a zero if he/she clicks outside of this area.

An example of a hotspot question is:

Refer to the image of a heart below. Click on the aorta:

Students who clicks anywhere in the green marked area will receive a mark and students who click outside of the area will receive zero. Students do not see the green marked area as part of the question, the image in the example above is to illustrate how the question is set up on the system (Blackboard/ Questionmark). As the example illustrates, this question type works well in modules where students need to visually be able to distinguish between certain areas such as in Physiology or Biology. However, it can also be used creatively in other types of modules as in these examples. It is important to note that this question type should be used with caution if you have students in your class who are visually impaired as the software on their computers will typically not read an image.

Drag and drop question
Drag and drop questions allow a student to drag and drop a number of labels to appropriate spaces on an image. A student can either get a single mark for placing all the labels at the correct spaces on the image or can get a mark for each label placed correctly.

A simple example of a drag and drop question is:

Drag and drop the labels at the bottom of the image to the corresponding countries on the image. Place the label anywhere on its corresponding country:

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Students do not see the colour-coded marked areas as part of the question, the image and labels in the example above is to illustrate how the question is set up on the system. Drag and drop questions also work well for an image of text such as matching a step in a process with a description. It is important to note that the labels at the bottom of a drag and drop questions should be short (preferably one or two words) as it must fit in next to each other at the bottom of the image. This question type should be used with caution if you have students in your class who are visually impaired as the software on their computers typically cannot read an image. This question type is not commonly available on all online assessment platforms but it is available on Questionmark.

Developing good multiple choice questions
It is important that a multiple-choice question is constructed well, before focusing on constructing questions that test higher order thinking. A multiple-choice question consists of a question (sometimes also referred to as the stem) and a number of options, of which only one is correct. Both the question and the options need to be constructed well to ensure the quality of a multiple-choice question. Since multiple-choice questions are often re-used, it is worth setting up good quality questions from the start. These questions can often be adapted to build a large question bank over time. The following guidelines are useful to consider in setting up multiple-choice questions.

Guideline	Example of a poor question	Suggestion for improving the question
Avoid unnecessary and irrelavant material in the question to avoid confusion and misdirecting the student.	Paul Muldoon, an Irish post-modern poet who uses experimental and playful language, uses which poetic genre in “Why Brownlee Left”? a. Sonnet b. Elegy c. Narrative poem d. Dramatic monologue e. Haiku	Paul Muldoon uses which poetic genre in “Why Brownlee Left”? a. Sonnet b. Elegy c. Narrative poem d. Dramatic monologue e. Haiku
Use clear and straightforward language in the question. Avoid making the question a reading comprehension rather than an assessment of the subject matter.	As the level of fertility approaches its nadir, what is the most likely ramification for the citizenry of a developing nation? a. A decrease in the labour force participation rate of women b. A dispersing effect on population concentration c. A downward trend in the youth dependency ratio d. A broader base in the population pyramid e. An increased infant mortality rate	A major decline in fertility in a developing nation is likely to produce which of the following? a. A decrease in the labour forces participation rate of women b. A dispersing effect on population concentration c. A downward trend in the youth dependency ratio d. A broader base in the population pyramid e. An increased infant mortality rate
Use negatives sparingly. If negatives must be used (as you may sometimes want to test knowledge about exceptions to a rule), capitalize, underscore, embolden or highlight it.	Weak question: Which of the following is not a symptom of osteoporosis? a. Decreased bone density b. Frequent bone fractures c. Raised body temperature d. Lower back pain	Which of the following is NOT a symptom of osteoporosis? a. Decreased bone density b. Raised body temperature c. Hair loss d. Painful joints
Put as much of the question wording in the stem as possible, rather than duplicating material in the options, which is difficult to read and makes the question look unwieldly.	Theorists of pluralism have asserted which of the following? a. The maintenance of democracy requires a large middle class. b. The maintenance of democracy requires autonomous centres of countervailing power. c. The maintenance of democracy requires the existence of a multiplicity of religious groups. d. The maintenance of democracy requires a predominantly urban population. e. The maintenance of democracy requires the separation of governmental powers	Theorists of pluralism have asserted that the maintenance of democracy requires which of the following? a. A large middle class b. Autonomous centres of countervailing power c. The existence of a multiplicity of religious groups d. A predominantly urban population e. The separation of governmental powers
Avoid giving grammatical clues to the correct answer. As the example of the poor question shows, the question ends with the word ‘an’. Since only one of the options start with a vowel, it is the only plausible answer.	A fertile area in the desert in which the water table reaches the ground surface is called an a. Mirage b. Oasis c. Water hole d. Polder	What is a fertile area in the desert in which the water table reaches the ground surface called? a. Mirage b. Oasis c. Water hole d. Polder

Other guidelines to consider:

Avoid ‘all of the above’ and ‘none of the above’ options – It is often an easy option to eliminate. For instance, if students can eliminate one of the other options then they can also immediately eliminate ‘all of the above’. If you do want to use these options in some of your questions, ensure that it is sometimes also the correct option. Do not only use it to ensure that you have a certain number of options (e.g. 4 options or 5 options).
Statements that are correct but that do not answer the question can be strong distractors.
Avoid ‘always’ and ‘never’ options – these are easy options to rule out as extreme statements like this are often incorrect. Few things are universally true or false.
Do not create distractors that are so similar to the correct choice that it confuses students who really do know the answer. Distractors should be clearly different from the correct answer and not only in how it is phrased or what is emphasised.
Ensure that your options are mutually exclusive (that they do not overlap) – An example of overlapping options is:

How long does an annual plant generally live?

It dies after a year
It lives for many years
It needs to be replanted each year
It lives for 3 months

In this example, options a and c are not mutually exclusive. If a plant dies after a year it implies that it needs to be replanted every year. If this is the correct answer (as in this example) it technically means that both answers are correct. If both a and c were incorrect, it would have meant that a student would be able to eliminate both of these options and would only have two options left to consider.

Keep your options as short as possible – often, the more difficult a multiple-choice question becomes (see next section on creating questions that test higher order thinking) the longer the stem becomes. It is best practice to keep the options as short as possible to avoid the question becoming unwieldly.

You can use the below checklist (which includes the guidelines discussed in this section) before setting up multiple-choice questions. This checklist can also be used to assure the quality of your exiting question bank:

1.	There is no irrelevant material in the question (stem)
2.	The question is asked in clear straightforward language
3.	The question is stated positively (or if not the negative part of the question is highlighted/ emboldened/ underlined so as to sufficiently stand out)
4.	As much of the question wording as possible is in the stem and not repeated in the options
5.	There are no grammatical clues in the question
6.	‘All of the above’ or ‘none of the above’ options are avoided as far as possible (if not they are feasible options)
7.	‘Always’ and ‘never’ options are avoided
8.	Distractors are not so similar to the correct option that it would confuse a student who knows the correct answer
9.	All options are mutually exclusive (none of the options overlap with any of the other options)
10.	Options are not unnecessarily long

Bloom’s Taxonomy
Developing good multiple choice questions
Some types of online tests can be automatically graded, reducing your marking time and allowing you to conduct more regular assessment in your course. In addition, it allows you to use a variety of assessment methods. Depending on how you choose to incorporate online assessments in your overall assessment strategy, online assessment can lead to more prepared students and it can help your students to understand the module content better. Online assessment can be used particularly effectively in formative assessment.

Bloom’s taxonomy is a helpful resource to determine and classify the difficulty-level of your questions.

Description of different levels of Bloom’s

Bloom’s level	Description
Remember	Remembering previously learned material (ONLY remembering is enough Lowest level of learnin Listing learned informatio Remembering terms, methods, facts, concepts, specific items of information
Understand	Ability to grasp the meaning of materia Communicating an ide Explaining idea Summarizing materia Understanding facts and principles
Apply	Applying concepts and principles to new situation Applying laws and theories to practical situation Demonstrating correct usage of a method or procedur Applying rules, methods, concepts, principles, laws, theorie Requires higher level of understanding than comprehension
Analyze	Breaking material down into component part Understanding the organizational structur Analysis of relationships between part Recognition of organizational principles involve Understanding both the content and structural for Analyzing the elements
Evaluate	Ability to judge the value of materia Use of definite criteria for judgment Value judgments based on clearly defined criteria
Create	Putting parts together in a new whol Formulating new patterns or structure Abstract relationship Communicating an idea in a unique wa Proposing a new set of operation Creating new or original thing Take things and pattern them in a new way

Examples of multiple choice questions on different levels of Bloom’s

Example question	Bloom’s level	Explanation
Which of the following is one of the major approaches to psychology? a) psychoanalysis b) structuralism c) psychiatry d) New Age Movement	Remember	Students would only have to remember the major approaches to psychology and that psychoanalysis is one of them.
Which one of the following describes what takes place in the so-called PREPARATION stage of the creative process, as applied to the solution of a particular problem? a) The problem is identified and defined. b) All available information about the problem is collected. c) An attempt is made to see if the proposed solution to the problem is acceptable. d) The person goes through some experience leading to a general idea of how the problem can be solved. e) The person sets the problem aside, and gets involved with some other unrelated activity.	Understand	This question is on an understand level if the descriptions in options a to e are slightly different than the descriptions students received in their class notes or text books. If the descriptions are a summary/ using different wording students would need to understand what happens in the preparation stage to select the correct answer. If the descriptions are exactly the same as in their class slides or textbooks, however, this would be a remember question.
Sally is newly appointed in a managerial role. She has noticed that two of her subordinates, Lisa and Joan, do not get along. Lisa and Joan need to work as part of a larger team, and the conflict between them causes stress for the rest of the team. Because of the conflict between Lisa and Joan they are often abrupt and unclear when they communicate in writing with each other which often leads to misunderstandings. Sally sends both Joan and Lisa for a training course in how to professionally communicate via email in order to solve the problem. Which of the following problem solving steps did Sally skip in her attempt to find a solution to the problem? a) Evaluate and learn b) Define the problem c) Select the best solution d) Implement	Apply	The problem solving steps need to be applied to the scenario provided.
The Swift Fox is a small mammal (about the size of a cat) that once lived throughout the prairie grasslands of central Canada. However, due to a number of factors including hunting, it had completely disappeared from Canada by the late 1970s. In an attempt to restore this species, foxes from American populations have been released in Canada. However, the number of Swift Foxes in Canada still remains low. Which factor is most likely NOT contributing to this? a) Much of the fox’s original grassland habitat has been replaced with agriculture, which has reduced the quality and quantity of habitat for the foxes and the availability of suitable prey. b) The foxes released in early reintroductions did not survive well, likely due to a lack of knowledge of sources of food and den locations, or because the American foxes were not adapted to the longer Canadian winters. c) Coyotes, which are increasing in numbers, are feeding on the foxes, or competing with the foxes for available resources. d) Swift foxes are still being trapped for their pelts (fur), as they have been since the early 1800s. e) Swift foxes may have been the unintended victim of trapping and poisoning campaigns directed at other mammals, such as coyotes, wolves, and ground squirrels.	Analyze	The student is required to analyse each of the provided options in relation to the scenario and decide on the factor that is least likely to contribute to the problem. An argument can also be made that this question is on an ‘evaluate’ level.

Planning your assessment using Bloom’s Taxonomy

It can be helpful to create a test blueprint before setting up questions for a test to plan the proportions of different levels of questions that you want to include. For instance, if you want the biggest portion of your test to consist of application level questions, you can allocate a larger percentage of the total marks to this level. It is also useful to make use of a test blueprint if you are part of a teaching team where more than one person sets up a test. A blueprint can then be used to divide the work between the different lecturers. An example of a test blueprint is shown below:

Example of test blueprint:

	Unit 1	Unit 2	Unit 3	Unit 4	Total
Remember	7 (step 3)	2 (step 3)	1 (step 3)	1 (step 3)	11 (step 2)
Understand	4 (step 3)	6 (step 3)	8 (step 3)	2 (step 3)	20 (step 2)
Apply	4 (step 3)	10 (step 3)	12 (step 3)	24 (step 3)	50 (step 2)
Analyze	0 (step 3)	3 (step 3)	3 (step 3)	8 (step 3)	14 (step 2)
Evaluate	0 (step 3)	0 (step 3)	0 (step 3)	5 (step 3)	5 (Step 2)
Create	0 (step 3)	0 (step 3)	0 (step 3)	0 (step 3)	0 (step 2)
TOTAL	15 (step 4)	21 (step 4)	24 (step 4)	40 (step 4)	100 (step 1)

Unit 1

Unit 2

Unit 3

Unit 4

Total

Remember

(step 3)

(step 2)

Understand

(step 3)

(step 2)

Apply

(step 3)

(step 2)

Analyze

(step 3)

(step 2)

Evaluate

(step 3)

(Step 2)

Create

(step 3)

(step 2)

TOTAL

(step 4)

100

(step 1)

Setting up a test blueprint:

Initial setup: Create a column for each of the units of work (or chapters) that will be covered in the test with a ‘total’ column at the end. Create a row for each of Bloom’s levels with a ‘total’ row at the bottom.

Step 1: Fill in the test total in the cell at the bottom right

Step 2: Fill in the total marks you want to allocate to different levels of Bloom’s in the column on the right

Step 3: Fill in the total marks that you will be able to get from each of the units/ chapters to get to the total in the column of the right for each of the Bloom’s levels

Step 4: Calculate the totals of each of the columns to confirm that you get to the total score of the test.

References
Anderson, L. W., Krathwohl, D. R., Airasian, P. W., Cruikshank, K. A., Mayer, R. E., Pintrich, P. Raths, J. & Wittrock, M. (2001). A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing: A Revision of Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. New York: Longman.
University of Toronto. (2001). Guidelines for composing multiple-choice test questions. Retrieved from http://bio150.chass.utoronto.ca/tips/mc.htm

Feedback to students

Providing feedback on online assessment
Because online assessment is predominantly used to supplement other (more traditional) assessments in most courses, it is mostly used in formative assessment activities. Feedback plays a crucial role in the effectiveness of an assessment, especially in formative assessment (i.e. assessment for learning). Nicol and Milligan (2006) suggest the following 7 guidelines and practical solutions for effective feedback in technology-supported assessment:

1. Good feedback practice helps clarify what good performance is
Students must understand what the criteria and goals for good performance are.

How?

Ensure that the assessment instructions include clear descriptions of assessment criteria and the requirements for different levels of achievement. These can also be stipulated in a separate document/ rubric uploaded to the LMS.
Create an online discussion forum before an assessment becomes available to allow students to ask questions and discuss assessment expectations with the instructor and with their peers.
Provide students of ‘exemplars’ of expected performance. This can include examples of both good and poor performance.

2. Good feedback practice facilitates the development of reflection and self-assessment in learning
Students should be equipped to evaluate and measure their own performance in relation to the required criteria or standards of an assessment. They should develop skills, through self- and peer assessment, to learn not only to produce work of appropriate quality, but also to evaluate it.

How?

Regular online quizzes throughout a course (where students possibly have more than one attempt to complete the quiz) allows students to regularly gauge their understanding. In order for students to become more self-regulated through this method, they should receive feedback on these assessments, at the very least, they should be able to see which questions they got right and which questions they did not.
Require students to submit a self-evaluation together with their assignments or have students assess their classmates assignments with a provided rubric.
Students can submit a number of reflective journal entries throughout the duration of a course to reflect on their learning and development. These can also be included as a larger project or submitted as part of an e-portfolio.

3. Good feedback practice delivers high quality information to students about their learning
Instructors should help students to become aware of their strengths and weaknesses through good quality feedback. They should provide students with information that helps them to align their internal understanding with the required goals and criteria. Good quality feedback is descriptive rather than evaluative. It is important to include comments about how students can improve their assignment and not only what the strengths and weaknesses of the assignment are.

How?

Most online platforms have a feedback functionality that allows a lecturer to provide written feedback on students’ submissions.
Generic, but specific, whole-class feedback can be provided through a video recording or screencasting posted to the LMS.
Turnitin, popular similarity software that can be integrated with most LMSs also allows for short audio feedback that an instructor can include as part of their feedback to an individual student on their assessment.

4. Good feedback practice encourages teacher and peer dialogue around learning
While external feedback from the instructor plays a crucial role in assessment, students do not always understand feedback provided by an instructor. One way to increase the effectiveness of feedback is to conceptualise feedback as a dialogue rather than the one-way transmission of information from an instructor to a student. A challenge in the South African higher education context, which is often characterised by large classes, is to provide quality, individualised feedback to many students. Technology provides some solutions for this challenge.

How?

Classroom communication systems (CCS), also known as clickers or classroom response systems, are used to allow students to respond to a multiple choice question in a face-to-face lecture. Results are captured, aggregated and anonymised immediately which allows the instructor to engage in a dialogue with students and for students to engage in a dialogue with their peers based on the results. Free software, that transforms students’ personal mobile devices into a ‘clicker’, is available freely (see Further Reading section).
Online discussion forums encourage dialogue and interaction. An online discussion forum set up as a ‘debrief’ after an assessment can be useful for this purpose.

5. Good feedback practice encourages positive motivational beliefs and self-esteem
Student performance and commitment to their goals relies heavily on student motivation. Poor performance in an assessment activity, especially a high-stakes assessment, can be demoralising. More regular, low-stakes, assessment opportunities throughout a course can keep students motivated.

How?

Online objective assessment activities, where students have more than one attempt, can increase student motivation.
Game-based assessment activities, where students receive electronic badges for completion of a number of activities or for completion of tasks at a specific level or within a certain timeframe can also be motivating.

6. Good feedback practice provides opportunities to close the gap between current and desired performance
Ideally, feedback should lead to changes in student behaviour that ultimately leads to improved performance. Effective feedback helps students to close the gap between actual and desired performance. This can be achieved by providing students with feedback while they are engaged in the assessment activity and by allowing them to repeat the activity by, for instance, allowing resubmission.

How?

Break an assignment up into smaller components and provide feedback on each section before students continue with the next section. Online environments, such as a LMS, often have flexible workflow options, which also allows for peer assessment. Both instructor and peer feedback can thus be provided throughout the learning process.
Allow students to resubmit an assignment (such as a report or an essay) after providing initial feedback to make changes to the assignment based on the feedback.

7. Good feedback practice provides information to teachers that can be used to help shape teaching.
Before instructors can provide effective feedback to students, they themselves need to have a good understanding of how students are progressing and which gaps need to be addressed on a student- and class level.

How?

Classroom response systems can, in an informal way, provide immediate feedback to an instructor on students’ understanding of content covered in a lecture.
Objective online quizzes/ test results yield rich quantitative data in the form of item-analysis reports that can give instructors an overview of class performance but also of the quality of their questions (also see section on using assessment results effectively)
Instructors can gather useful feedback from students on their experience of an assessment activity or the feedback they received on a task by distributing an online survey (either through the LMS, institutional or free survey software) to their students after an assessment activity has been completed. Similarly, course evaluation results (both quantitative and qualitative) often provide feedback to instructors on how students generally experienced the assessment in a course.

Using assessment results effectively

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Considerations and challenges in the SA context

Challenge 1: Initial time investment

One of the biggest challenges of starting with online assessment for the first time is the time that it takes to design assessments for online delivery, to formulate assessment criteria and/ or rubrics, and to develop an overall assessment strategy for your module that includes new online assessments. The initial time investment required to start using online assessment is often underestimated.

How do I address this challenge?

It is important to plan for it. You will need to spend some extra time initially when you want to incorporate online assessment activities into your overall assessment strategy for a course for the first time. You need to make provisioning for the time it will take to plan your activities, compile your assessment criteria, and develop assessment activities.

Do not over extend yourself by incorporating too many new types of assessment activities at once. Often lecturers are excited to try different online assessment tools. You will need to spend some time planning and compiling assessments for each new tool you want to use and you may become despondent when you realise how much time it will take. Rather make a commitment to try one new tool each year and build on previous years’ knowledge and experiences.

Ensure that the time you spend initially is truly an investment by building up a question bank of questions that you can re-use and expand on year after year. If you create 20 questions on a topic, for instance, the first year that your students are completing online quizzes, you can add 10 more the following year and have a question bank of 30 questions. You also need to remember that although you spend some extra time to compile your questions initially, you will save time eventually when these questions are automatically graded.

Challenge 2: Students’ lack of computer/ technical skills

A common misconception is that all of our students are tech savvy and ready to use technology in their modules. Many of our students (especially first years) have not been exposed to computers or educational technology in school and need to master these tools for the first time at university.

How do I address this challenge?

Most universities have how-to guides for students on how to use the various online assessment tools that are available. It is important to make sure that your students have access to these documents and that they know where to find them. Spend some time in class by showing them where to find resources on how to use the online assessment tools they’ll be exposed to in your course. If proper how-to resources are not available on an institutional level, consider creating some step-by-step guides for your students that will show them exactly how to access and complete their online assessments in your course.
A ‘practice run’ is recommended before your students complete an online assessment for the first time. It can notably reduce queries from students while the assessment is open. A practice run is just a quick example assessment that does not count towards a semester mark but that allows students to familiarise themselves with the online assessment tool before having to complete their assessment.

Challenge 3: Cheating / student collaboration

If your students are completing an online assessment in an uncontrolled environment, it is possible that they may help each other or work together on the assessment. This may be undesirable for some types of assessment such as examinations or other summative assessments. Therefore, it is recommended that these types of assessments need to take place in a controlled environment such as a computer laboratory. However, for informal quizzes designed to help students to learn and grasp content it is not necessarily a problem if they collaborate on assessment tasks, as research shows that this still facilitates learning. There are also certain measures that you can put in place to limit meaningless copying of each other’s work though:

How do I address this challenge?

Challenge 4: Dealing with student queries during and after an online assessment

Many lecturers who use online assessment for the first time underestimate the number of student queries they may receive. This is especially challenging when an assessment is completed in an uncontrolled environment. You may get queries from students who experienced internet connection problems, who were unable to complete the test before the deadline for various reasons, or who were uncertain on how to use the online assessment tool. The challenge not only lies in dealing with the number of queries but also in discerning when a query is valid or invalid.

How do I address this challenge?

The most effective way to reduce student queries during and after an assessment is proper communication before the assessment. Make sure that your students know exactly when they are expected to complete the assessment, that they are aware of any how-to or other information documents they need to consult prior to completing the assessment, and that the assessment criteria are clearly defined so that they know exactly what is expected of them. Also, ensure that students know in which instances they will not get a second chance to complete the assessment and be consistent in the way in which you deal with queries. It is a good idea to explain beforehand (preferably in writing via the LMS or in the study guide) to students that no late submissions will be accepted.
A ‘practice run’ is recommended to not only ensure that students are familiar with the assessment tool but also to reduce queries.

Challenge 5: Access to devices and the internet

Many South African students struggle financially and may not have access to their own personal mobile devices (such as laptops or even smartphones). Additionally, the high cost of data is a well-known challenge in the South African context. It is important to keep this in mind when students are required to complete any online activities, including online assessment.

How do I address this challenge?

Many students are dependent on institutional infrastructure, such as computer laboratories and Wi-Fi on campus to complete online assessment activities. Assessment activities that are open for an extended period (such as a week) allow students enough time to access campus resources. Of course, not all assessments are designed to be opened for an extended period. In such cases, it is recommended that, where possible, an appropriate venue is booked so that students will have access to required resources to complete their activities.
In addition to providing students with enough time to complete assessment activities, it is important to also give them enough advance notice of when and how online assessment activities in your course will be completed. This way students are afforded an opportunity to plan exactly when they will need to access which resources on campus if they do not have access to devices and or data at home.
Use graphics and videos, that require large quantities of data, to download sparingly. Online assessment offers opportunities for innovative assessment design such as the inclusion of a video instead of a written case study, for instance. However, the cost of data is prohibitive. There are several free software programs available to minimise video sizes Format Factory is one example. Another example is to insert a video into a PowerPoint presentation and to save the presentation as a video with a lower quality.

Institutional guidelines and rules

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