Phased online summative assessment in undergraduate accounting

CAMEL (tangible benefits of e-learning) Case Study: University of Glamorgan, Phased online summative assessment in undergraduate accounting

http://www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk/case-studies/tangible/glamorgan/index_html
Context
-first year accounting students

Problem
- Students' poor performance
- lack of participation in the learning process
- superficial engagement in the topic area

Aims
- measure development
- identify area that need support
- provide timely feedback to promote self reflection
- use feedback to promote learning

End of course assessment
- an in-class time-constrained case study, weighted 30%,
- an end of year 3 hours' time-constrained examination.


New online assessment method in addition to end of course texts
- phased: 5 texts from October to March
- 60 questions per test: multiple-choice, multiple-response, true/false, yes/no and text match questions
- Feedback provided:score for the test, a summary of the questions asked and the student answers to those questions and an explanation of the incorrect answers.
- 50 minutes, supervised, several sittings due to the size of the labs.
-questions shuffled to prevent cheating

Benefits
- improved performance at end of course assessment
- students liked to be tested on small areas of the syllabus rather than one test covering many topics
- students thought that this assessment encouraged them to allocate their study time appropriately throughout the year
- students thought that testing gave opportunities for self-assessment, evaluation and reflection at an early stage and throughout the year
- it allowed them to get timely feedback
- it helped them get organised and do a bit at a time/easier to revise at the end
- after the initial effort to create the materials, tutors have no extra workload
- incerased motivation and time management
- possibility to diagnose problems early and give support
- increased student learning and participation in the learning process.


My comments
- It is not clear if the marks count towards the final mark
- it is not necessary to use the technology for a phased assessment approach
- the technology makes the teachers' work easier
- the technology allows the quality of materials and feedback to be the same for all students
- even in accounting the use of multiple choice questions is not sufficient to test understanding