Online submission and marking: Exploring the student experience
Anna VergesHumanities eLearning
Context
Faculty/Schools drive to benefit from introducing online submission and marking– Facilitate further improvements in feedback
quality– Increase student satisfaction with feedback and
assessment quality (NSS, student complaints)– Administrative efficiencies
Evaluating …what ?• Experiences (student, academic staff,
administrative staff experiences)• Effect on marking practices• Effect on feedback quality• Administrative economies
& efficiency (end to end)• Impact on student satisfaction• Effects on innovation
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The student experience
What do we know?
Evidence
University of Glamorgan, Turn it in or Turn it off? A Pilot Project for Turnitin and Grademark Experience, 15 March 2010
University of Exeter, Online Coursework Management Evaluation, JISC Project 2012
University of Glamorgan, Assessment Diaries & Grademark, 2012
University of Huddersfield, Evaluating the Benefits of Electronic Assessment Management, JISC Project, July 2012.
Uni. Glamorgan 2010Online questionnaires - 104 students across 4 faculties, 6 interviews• Reported positive experiences
– Convenient + no need to print– Teaches plagiarism– Easy to use– Confirmation of receipt, secure and reliable– Encourages to submit in advance– More detailed feedback
• Negative– Confusion interpreting Originality Reports– Technical: 24h for resubmission, internet dependent– Poor preview layout– Double work if also asked to submit hard copy
Univ. of Exeter (OCME, 2010)• Evaluation of introducing end-to-end assessment
systems - mainly indirect evaluation of student experiences from views of academic and admin staff – Staff discrepancies in perception of beneficiaries– Not to assume that all students will embrace online
systems– Pedagogical benefit (24%)
• Small student population (n=24)– Easy or little confusing (31% each)– Same feedback quality or worse (45% and 26%)
Univ. Glamorgan/S.Wales (2012)296 students – survey and focus groups• Reported advantages: – Easy– Easily stored and accessed– Legibility– Student engagement with feedback (?)
• Reported disadvantages: – online access, reading on screen, no disadvantages
• Student suggestions for improvements– Clearer assessment criteria, quality, consistency, need for
dialogue
Univ. Huddersfield (JISC eBeam) 2013Survey (n=804) and focus groups. Student reported benefits:• Easier to submit (convenience, avoid travel)• Avoids printing –printer panic• Confident that submissions were received• Legibility• Preference for privacy: digesting their marks on their own -
not in class• More detailed feedback• Clearer feedback (rubric allows to identify areas to work
on) • Larger collection of feedback by students• Effective visual feedback provided via diagnostic tools
UoM evidence
• Anecdotal evidence through 2011-2013• Focus groups• School of Education – Retention Fund project
2011-2012• Online questionnaires
Issues explored
• Overall satisfaction with online submission and electronic feedback
• Electronic submission and return experiences• Experience of e-feedback quality• Comparison electronic vs. hand-written
feedback
Student experience
• Method: Online survey• Participants– Humanities wide UG and PG (n= 204)– History UG students(n=91)– BA Econ (n=71)
• Slightly different wording and questions asked
Overall satisfaction
BA EconPlease indicate to what extent you agree with the following statements: I would like to
see an increase in the following in my learning at the University of Manchester
Overall satisfaction
BA Econ
Overall satisfactionHistory
Overall satisfaction
Electronic submission
• Humanities-wide– Easiness
Electronic submission
• History– Easiness
Feedback Quality
Humanities-wide
Feedback Quality
Comparing
Overall preference (Humanities-wide)
Comparing
Helpfulness(History)
Comparing
Clarity (Humanities-wide)
ComparingFeedback collection and review (Humanities-wide)
Comparing
Feedback review (History)
Comparing
De-personalisation (Humanities-wide)
Findings
Not dissimilar to findings from other studies– Overall student satisfaction (easiness,
convenience, cost)– Preference for online submission and for feedback
returned electronically– Perceived pedagogical added value: clarity,
feedback quality, collection rates
Students clear beneficiaries of electronic submission and feedback
Caveats & Puzzles• Explored the student experience only• Subjective: views, opinions• Need to develop objective indicators• Limitations on Hum-wide survey• Range of factors can influence a comparison
between feedback quality across years• Discrepancies between staff/student views as
regards feedback quality
ReferencesUniversity of Glamorgan, Turn it in or Turn it off? A Pilot Project for
Turnitin and Grademark Experience, Project Report 15 March 2010
University of Exeter, Online Coursework Management Evaluation, Final Report, 2012
University of Glamorgan, An Evaluation of Assessment Diaries and Grademark, Final Report, Webinar November 2012
University of Huddersfield, Evaluating the Benefits of Electronic Assessment Management, JISC Project, Project Brief, Interim Report (March 2012), Project Interim Report (September 2012).