Good assessments and examinations are not only a matter of how they are designed (ASSESSMENT DESIGN). Students must also understand clearly what is expected of them (ASSESSMENT LITERACY) and learn to estimate their own abilities more accurately (ASSESSMENT FEEDBACK). Digital scenarios provide significant challenges in these three areas, but at the same time they also offer new opportunities for advances in assessment and instruction.
These ten tips will help you learn to recognize and address the most significant challenges, and take advantage of the opportunities of digital formats.
Tip No.1: Communicate expectations clearly to students
A wide range of digital assessment formats are available; for example, a multiple choice exam with EvaExam, a forum or submitting a video on ADAM.
Tip No.2: Facilitate digital interaction
If your course does not take place in person, students will miss a lot of opportunities for informal interaction with their fellow students. This is relevant to exam preparation and especially for students who are at the beginning of their studies or who don’t have many opportunities to discuss their studies with friends, acquaintances or family members.
Tip No. 3: Use mock exams
ADAM and EvaExam offer you the opportunity to build practice exercises, tests and mock exams into your course. This helps your students to better evaluate their progress and selfdirect their studies. Here are some ideas:
With Eva Exam
On ADAM
Tip No. 4: Students should know where they stand after the assessment
After the assessment, students should know where they stand. This point is essential to the development of students’ future learning processes.
Tip No. 5: Take advantage of opportunities for collaborative learning
Collaborative assessments and learning formats help students to acquire important skills for their future professional life.
Tip No. 6: Develop practice-oriented tasks
Digital assessments and examinations offer you the opportunity to develop practice-oriented tasks for your students. Practice-oriented tasks not only have a positive influence on student motivation, but also play a central role in their future.
Tip No. 7: Offer open-book and take-home examinations
Open-book examinations (written examinations in which the use of resources is explicitly permitted) offer students the opportunity to demonstrate certain skills that may not be so evident in other examination formats. Do your students all have to take the examination on campus at the same time, or can they decide for themselves where and when they would like to take the exam within the permitted time frame? Take-home exams allow interesting new variations; for example, a “24-hour examination” in which students receive one or more assigned tasks that they have to complete within one day. This may involve analyzing a case or problem, comparing a variety of provided solutions, etc.
Tip No. 8: Test the examination duration and adjust the workload
If you conduct assessments and examinations digitally, the duration of the exam will probably need to be extended.
Tip No. 9: Prepare students for the digital examination
It may be the case that not all your students are familiar (enough) with the digital examination format to be able to clearly envision the procedure and adequately manage the technical testing environment.
You can find courses and other materials on the topic of digital teaching and assessments and examination in the Knowlege Hub of the team Educational Development (accessible for staff on the university network or via VPN).
Would you like additional support with the didactic design of your assessments and examinations? Feel free to contact the Team Educational Development.
One last tip (No. 10): Assistance with evaluating your assessment
How do students perceive the difficulty of your examinations? If you would like to know, you can have your digital and non-digital assessments evaluated by your students.
The Team Educational Development of the University of Basel can provide support and help you develop an appropriate survey. We encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity to further develop your assessments and exams, and make them more professional.