Enhancing assessment opportunities? Reflections on a co-created assessment matrix for e-portfolios

Sara HattersleyLearning Development Centre, University of WarwickS.Hattersley@warwick.ac.uk @sarahattersley

Resources available at: http://bit.ly/2caoVxA

How would you assess your engagement at ALT-C this week?a) Passive observer (attended, no notes, no contributions)b) Active observer (attended, made notes, had own

thoughts)c) Passive participant (engaged in workshop activities; didn’t

record/publicise or meet people otherwise)d) Active participant (attended, presented, engaged in

groups and ‘play’, used social media, conversations with others etc.)

Warm-up question!

Integrated learning through e-portfolios

About the project The co-creation and testing of an assessment matrix for e-portfolios, as part of the Transforming Technologies PGA

Some pedagogical themes of interest:alternative assessment methods in HE, specifically e-portfolios.the notion of 'student as producer'curriculum as a processstudent agency in curriculum design decisions

Others are talking about it…

JISC (2015) claim there is a “growing body of evidence that highlights the active engagement of learners in assessment and feedback as the critical factor in enhancing learning.” Higher Education Academy (2015) in their recent publication, set out a framework for re-considering assessment and one of the key tenets they describe as ‘integrating assessment literacy into course design’ with the aim of increasing student understanding of standards.

Summative assessment: digital poster

Students were asked to create a ‘digital poster’ in MyPortfolio to describe a technology tool. This poster is to be included in the TAP repository (first student contributions!).As part of the assessment, students helped to design, test and evaluate their experience of the marking matrix.Students produced their own poster, but also peer assessed another student’s poster.

Working together to create the matrix

Where do digital skills ‘sit’?HE traditionally assesses: Knowledge and understanding Analysis, synthesis and critique Academic and communication skills

Are digital literacies a ‘sub-section’ of the latter, or something more integral across the assessment criteria range?

Examples from the matrix: ‘knowledge’

Distinction“Solid understanding of the

tool used for the digital poster, including the context of the software/platform.”

Merit“Good evidence of

understanding of the tool used for the digital poster.”

Pass“Understanding of the tool

used although at a basic user level and may have made more

sophisticated choices (layout etc) with more knowledge.”

Refer“Limited command of the tool used to create digital poster.”

Examples from the matrix: ‘presentation skills’

Distinction“Indicative digital content might include: text, hyperlinks, external

multimedia, podcasts/screencasts, RSS feeds, infographics, embedded

content, polls etc”

Merit“Indicative digital content might include: text, hyperlinks, external

multimedia, podcasts/screencasts, infographics, and embedded

content.”

Pass“Indicative digital content might

include: text, hyperlinks, infographics, and photographs.”

Refer“Digital content might be limited to

text and hyperlinks.”

The ‘new column’: what digital skills are assessed?

Use of authentic versus appropriated materialsDesign skills, layout, readability, visual coherenceConnectedness of artefacts, tagging etc.Consideration for reader (scrolling, accessibility, navigation, linkage etc).Currency of materials and linksCopyright and security of materials and linksInteroperability/multi-platform approaches

Student poster example 1

Student poster example 2

Tutor and peer marking

Feedback from students

“I learned how to import images and You Tube clips and embed links etc.”

“It is nice to think that should my digital poster be deemed to be good enough to appear on the TAP, it will be posted there for others to see rather than filed away somewhere (or destroyed) in the way that a typical exam paper would be.”

“Marking someone else's poster makes you really look properly at the marking criteria and brings it to life..”

Successes and issues• Enhancement of student

digital skills • Peer assessment exercise

valued • Digital poster valued as

assessment piece• Raised awareness of

assessment processes and criteria

• Assessing digital skills enhanced grades

• ‘Time-consuming’ nature of true student-tutor collaboration

• Ownership of assessment criteria remains with the tutor? Student skills?

• How far students’ own submissions are enhanced by co-authoring of assessment criteria?

• Assessing digital skills enhanced grades

Critical questionsHow far do students want to be ‘producers’ and how do we prepare them to be ‘equal partners’?Does writing your own assessment criteria make you use it more effectively?Can we equate/account for digital literacy skills alongside ‘traditional’ academic criteria in HE assessment?

Thanks for listening!Sara HattersleyLearning Development Centre, University of WarwickS.Hattersley@warwick.ac.uk @sarahattersley http://bit.ly/2caoVxA