Is it time to shake up your assessment techniques?
As we all know, assessments are essential for ensuring that students are making progress and keeping up with their courses.
Paper-based or face-to-face assessments used to be the go-to choices for most assessors to evaluate their students, however, online assessments are becoming the more practical and streamlined alternative.
Moving from paper-based to online assessments isn’t just about transferring everything from your notebook to a computer – it’s about changing your workflow, dealing with multiple digital tools, and shifting your workspace to virtual environments.
It might sound complicated at first.
But once you’ve had time to familiarise yourself with e-testing, your workflow and evaluation processes will become second nature.
Let’s explore the benefits of digital assessments.
Streamlined Marking
One of the benefits of online assessments is automated evaluation. There are copious types of questions that enable computers to quickly and accurately take over the scoring process, such as:
- True/False
- Multiple-choice
- Matching
- Ordering
- Fill-in-the-blank
- And more.
Additionally, digital results can be stored in the cloud for assessors to reach at any time, with any preferred device.
Evaluating and storing student results online saves assessors time and the hassle of physical storage/organisation.
Visually Appealing Analytics
Students’ test results don’t just reflect an individual’s learning progress, they mirror the quality of a course. Therefore, it’s extremely important for assessors to follow up on the assessment results and be able to tell if a student needs extra support.
However, measuring student progress is not a simple matter for some assessors, especially when they have several classes to manage.
Moving assessments online means that anyone can easily compare and measure the results with heightened transparency.
Thankfully, with the help of advanced analytical tools, assessors can now more easily keep track of their student’s performances and provide them timely feedback.
Plagiarism
Often the biggest roadblock for online assessments is the fear of cheating. As an assessor, you may too wonder if there’s a way to prevent plagiarism and online fraud.
Luckily, the answer is a resounding ‘yes’.
Today, several tools and apps help you prevent cheating in the first place. Cameras and facial recognition, for instance, are reliable ways to verify test takers’ identities.
What’s more practical when tracking plagiarised text is popular anti-plagiarism software such as ‘Turnitin’ and ‘Urkund’.
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Communication is the key.
Above all, open and honest discussions with your students are essential for improvements.
Regardless of what type of assessment you choose, you should always provide clear and comprehensive instructions and listen carefully to what your students have to say.
Ensuring sufficient time and support is available to your students will help them complete their assessments in time and allow them to raise up their questions before submitting.
As your technical and communication skills advance, your online assessments will grow and mature in the corresponding direction.