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 satisfaction

History

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).