Alternatives to face-to-face assessment

You could instead consider using:

• “Take-away” exams, in which you set the questions or tasks virtually and ask the students to submit their responses electronically within a set period of time.

• Remote proctoring often relies on students being able to use technology which can be problematic for home use, so is not a straightforward option. Google Educator exams link to your computer when sitting them and take photos every few seconds to check your identity

• Moodle can support the timed release of examination papers and corresponding submission facilities that can help support time-constrained exams. The Learning Technology experts advise though, that it’s not a good idea for students to be submitting long-form (essay length) questions into a Moodle quiz as if there is an internet interruption, their work would be lost. An alternative exam format would be to time the release of the exam paper on Moodle using Turnitin with a timeframe in which to complete the submission in the form of a document. For example, Turnitin dropbox with exam paper available at noon, with cut-off for submissions of a Word doc by 4pm.

To assure standards you might need to consider:

• As with normal take-away papers, because students have access to materials, the design of questions may need to be reframed to move away from recall-based tasks to questions that require students to demonstrate how they use information rather than reiterate what they have learned. It will be important, therefore, to provide guidance for students in the change in orientation of the task. It is also good practice to re-run any changes to question formats through the usual moderation processes.

• It is unlikely you will be able to put this in place for scalable numbers unless you already have systems in place, although various vendors are working hard to meet urgent demand.

• To deter cheating you could advise students that you will run ‘spot checks’ or mini-vivas with a sample of the student population, where you will discuss their reasoning for the answers they’ve provided.

You could instead consider using:

• Ask students (individually or in groups) to submit a narrated presentation in electronic form which can then be tutor-marked and peer-reviewed.

• PowerPoint is familiar to most students, and offers a slide-by-slide voice-narration recording facility.

• Ask students to prepare a podcast on the topic to be submitted electronically.

To assure standards you might need to consider:

You will need to take account of the fact that, given the recorded presentation format, students can have multiple opportunities to prepare the item they are submitting, rather than having to cope with the one-off nature of a live presentation.

You could instead consider using:

It is likely that the best solution here is to move hard-copy portfolios to e-portfolios, for example in Moodle.

To assure standards you might need to consider:

Where these have been partially completed already, assessors will have to use professional judgment to decide whether sufficient evidence of achievement of the Los has been achieved already by the time of university closure.

For some students without ready internet access or lacking digital confidence the move to e-portfolios might be quite challenging, and they may need extra guidance.

These could readily be undertaken by Skype or other electronic remote means (as indeed they already are on occasions when Doctoral examinations are undertaken transnationally).

To assure standards you might need to consider:

Students may need significant support in developing confidence to work virtually where they have no prior experience.

You could instead consider using:

It is likely these could be held in an online platform already used within your university such as Zoom.

To assure standards you might need to consider:

Staff as well as students may need be supported to learn how to use this approach if it isn’t currently part of their normal learning experiences.

Alternatives for labs

Labs are among the hardest teaching activities to find alternatives for as university teaching is moved online in response to the Corona virus. In determining what alternative might work, it is critical to look at the intended learning outcomes for the lab. For example, common (generic) intended learning outcomes for labs:

Students will:

• Operate equipment safely and competently

• Develop a technical skill to a particular standard

• Collect data and perform a confirmatory analysis (“cookbook labs”)

• Collect exploratory data and perform analyses (“exploratory labs”)

• Reinforce or apply lecture material to particular situations

Alternatives for “Operate equipment safely and competently”:

• Expert modelling: Step by step how-to videos of staff talking through and demonstrating the equipment, addressing the most common issues have while learning to operate the equipment

• Computer simulations, if available

Alternatives for “Develop a technical skill to a particular standard”:

• Expert modelling: Step by step how-to videos on how to perform the skill, addressing the most common problems students have while developing the skill

• High-resolution zoom-able online photos (e.g. for identification / microscope labs)

• Computer simulations, if available

Alternatives for “Collect data and perform confirmatory analysis”:

• Share data from previous years with students to do the analysis

• Computer simulations, if available

Alternatives for “Collect exploratory data and perform analyses”:

• Dry runs: students describe how they would set up the experiment design, data collection, and analysis procedures

Alternatives for “Reinforce or apply lecture material to specific situations”:

• Computer simulations, if available

• Online tutorials / discussions with case studies

Simulations and online labs:

• University level online lab resources:

  • Phet interactive simulations (Science and Mathematics)

  • Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College (Earth sciences)

  • ComPADRE (Physics)

High school online lab resources that may be adaptable for your needs:

• LabXchange

• Go-Lab

You could instead consider using:

You can potentially use a digital infographic, mind map or other visuals which can be submitted via Moodle, for example, or posted in shared spaces, particularly if peer review is required.

To assure standards you might need to consider:

To confirm authenticity of the submitter, you may wish to supplement this with a short online oral.

You could instead consider using:

It may be possible for students to submit digital portfolios containing, for example, videos of themselves performing a range of practical tasks.

To assure standards you might need to consider:

This may be problematic in professional disciplines where the achievement of specific capabilities is required at 100% eg Nursing, drugs calculations

You could instead consider using:

Peers can email each other drafts for comments or use a virtual space within Moodle.

You could instead consider using:

Individuals and groups can be asked to work off-site to prepare and submit videos of their work, alongside reflective commentaries/accounts

To assure standards you might need to consider:

• Group performances may well be complex to organise off-site

• Videos cannot replicate the authentic live performance element but may suffice in crisis times

You could instead consider using:

Individual and generic group feedback can be delivered by tutors via audio or online means.