Electronic management of assessment (EMA)
The University student survey action plan 2017 identified as a priority that Schools should be encouraged to move to online marking and feedback wherever possible. From 2017-18 the we will continue to support Schools to review current approaches to coursework submission and marking, and support implementation of standardised electronic management of assessment (EMA) workflows. There will be a phased approach to enable work with all Schools over three years.
Project update - 2018-19
Having worked with a range of colleagues in different Schools during 2017-18, we have heard feedback that our current toolset needs improvement in certain areas, and that markers and administrators would appreciate a simpler set of workflows. In 2018-19 the focus of the project is to:
1. Improve our marking and feedback toolset
- Bristol is one of 5 UK institutions beta testing the new version of Turnitin’s Feedback Studio, which promises improved support for moderation, double and double blind marking. Beta testing ran from March - May 2019.
- In order to better support markers who mark offline, the Digital Education Office has worked with Blackboard on development of a tool which allows Instructors to:
- batch download assignments, including by group, eg if you are marking a subset of students within a unit
- mark offline eg annotating an assignment or completing a separate feedback sheet in Word
- batch upload marks and feedback files
Development of the tool took place between July 2018 and February 2019. Trials have been completed and the tool is availble for use. Please email digital-education@bristol.ac.uk to find out more.
2. Streamline the number of EMA workflows
In order to simplify marking and moderation we have identified a number of supported and recommended workflows. For more information see Using Blackboard for online submission and marking (staff)
3. Ensure effective and sustainable integration of SLSP with current and future EMA workflows
As the Student Lifecycle Support Programme (SLSP) brings integration for marks transfer between Blackboard and SITS in 2019, we are working with SLS colleagues to ensure sustainable integration of SLSP with current and future EMA workflows
Overall aims of the project
The EMA project aims to deliver:
- An improved student experience of assessment and learning through:
- greater consistency of approach
- automatic receipts for proof of submission
- ease of access to marks and feedback from anywhere and at any time, without being restricted by office hours
- improved clarity and understanding of feedback through legibility of text
- location of feedback alongside learning materials (in Blackboard), enabling students to refer to these easily
- potential use of hyperlinking in feedback to point students towards further information
- ability for students to review originality reports on drafts of their work to help develop their writing in accordance with principles of academic integrity
- Benefits for academic staff of marking online, including:
- ability to access marking from anywhere
- convenience of not having to carry large quantities of paper
- ability to quickly edit feedback in a document and re-use common feedback
- Improved administrative efficiency, saving paper and reduction in printing and toner costs.
10 steps to introducing EMA
- Initial contact between School and Digital Education Office (DEO)
- Scoping meeting to establish overall aims, key people, roles and responsibilities and timescales
- Review of current practice: to make sure we have a clear understanding of what happens at the moment, what is essential and what could be improved or changed
- Create workflow: check requirements, map these to a workflow, create a prototype for staff to try out, adjust if necessary, and finalise
- Training and production of support materials
- Set-up (with our ongoing support)
- First submission date (with our ongoing support)
- Marking and moderation (with our ongoing support)
- Evaluation: what went well, what could be improved next time
- Adjustment of workflow: liaison between School and DEO to implement changes for next iteration if required
Further information
To find out more about the project please contact Roger Gardner, Digital Education Development Manager: roger.gardner@bristol.ac.uk.
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