Learning and Educational Technology in Higher Education
Posts tagged assessment
Reforming the university: evolution or revolution? – A Response
Sep 8th
Licensed Creative Commons by FrenchKheldar
As a ‘disenfranchised insider’ I really enjoyed reading Tony Bates’blog post ‘Reforming the university: evolution or revolution?’. In it Dr Bates discusses change in universities from a stakeholder point of view and considers Faculty, Students, Government and the Economy. He concludes by saying:
My view is that universities do need to change quite radically, and some form of direct intervention is needed to speed up the reform of the university. In other words, we need to build on academic contributions that suggest the need for and methods of change, and move these into some kind of movement for change. The stakes are high. Those countries that move quickly and successfully to bring about the much needed changes in universities will reap enormous benefits, educationally, economically and socially.
He then goes on to ask four questions of his readers.
- Do universities need reform? Are they meeting the needs of the 21st century as well as can be expected, or do they need to change more quickly?
- If they do need to change, what models or visions can we offer? What role should technology play in these models or visions?
- If change is needed, what is the best way to bring about change in a timely and orderly manner? Or should we not worry about whether it is orderly?
- Who will join me on the ramparts with my banner?
I have commented on Dr Bates’ blog but I do think it is worth expanding on some of those comments in my own post. So here are my answers to Dr Bates’ question. More >
Assessment Manager Part 1 – Overview
Mar 18th
In 2004 I wrote a web application for managing student assessments. It was primarily designed for handling the submission of assessments from large cohorts of students. It manages the assessment lifecycle including creating assignments, managing marking schemes, handling submissions, distributing groups of assignments to assessors, facilitating easier online marking, enhancing rapid feedback and the moderation of assignments.
This video provides an overview of the application. I will record some additional videos showing the way that the marking schemes are managed, how moderation is handled and the way that students interact with the system. More >
Delicate Geniuses
Sep 13th
I was having a look at the Times Higher Education site the other day when a post entitled “Students get marks just for turning up” caught my eye. The post describes how some universities have been accused of bribing undergraduates by awarding assessment marks simply for turning up. More >
