Monthly Archives: August 2010

Partial credit for correct at second or third attempt

One of the features of OpenMark, the OU’s e-assessment system, is the fact that students are allowed several (usually three) attempts at each question, and receive hints which increase in detail after each unsuccessful attempt. This is the case even … Continue reading

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Overall impact of different variants of questions

You may be relieved to hear that this will be my final posting (at least for a while) on our use of different variants of interactive computer-marked assignment (iCMA) questions. We know that, whilst the different variants of many questions are … Continue reading

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So are the variants of equivalent difficulty?

One glance at the figure from the previous post (reproduced to the right) makes it clear that whilst the variants of the question shown at the top are equivalent, those for the lower question are not. Reasons why variants may be … Continue reading

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Investigating whether variants of a question are of equivalent difficulty

We have devised a range of tools to determine whether or not the variants of a question are of equivalent difficulty.

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Writing different variants of iCMA questions

So how can you make different variants of interactive computer-marked assignment questions? Here are some strategies we’ve used: Use different numbers (so ‘Evaluate 3 + 7’ becomes’Evaluate  ‘4 + 5’); Use different letters (so ‘Rearrange a=bc to make b the … Continue reading

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Using different variants of iCMA questions

At the Open University we use different variants of our iCMA questions. So, to take a very simple example, when one student receives the question ‘Evaluate 3 + 7’, another might receive the question ‘Evaluate  ‘4 + 5’. In summative … Continue reading

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Adjectives of assessment

Writing about the various terms used to describe e-assessment made me realise just how littered with adjectives the whole area of assessment is. We have formative, summative, thresholded and diagnostic assessment. We have peer assessment and self assessment, and when you’re assessing … Continue reading

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CAA or CAA?

We use ‘e-assessment’ to mean different things, but we also use a variety of terms to describe e-assessment! We have CAA (computer-aided assessment), or is it CAA (computer-assisted assessment); CMA (computer-marked assessment), or is it CMA (computer-mediated assessment). 

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What is e-assessment?

Again, I feel I ought to define my terms before going any further. The broadest definition of e-assessment encompasses the use of computers for any assessment-related activity, thus it might include the electronic submission of tutor-marked assignments, the marking of … Continue reading

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What is formative e-assessment and when does it happen?

I’ve just read a paper by Pachler et al (Computers & Education 54 (2010) pp715-721) which describes aspects of the JISC-funded project ‘Scoping a vision of formative e-assessment’. The paper starts by considering different perspectives on the ‘nature and value of formative … Continue reading

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