Group Admins
Description
Why can the institutional adoption of systems for emarking be so contentious and emotive? The University of Liverpool is no exception to this. As a response to the Student Union survey the implementation of electronic submission of coursework policy was developed and implemented in September 2016, ensuring that all students had the opportunity to submit coursework electronically, where practical. One of the main aims of the policy was a strategic approach to scaling up of the process, which relate to the conference themes.
A board was set up for one year to oversee the process and provide guidance across a range of systems for users with different requirements, skill levels and motivations. The adoption and use of technologies to enhance and support learning use across Higher Education sector is widely documented as being variable. According the latest HELF survey (Newland, et al, 2016), it’s increasingly recognised that adoption of e submission policies is growing across the sector with many recognisable benefits for staff and students. However, the same can’t be said for electronic marking and feedback whose uptake in universities remains comparatively small. Of course, electronic marking of coursework is more complex as it represents a significant change in practice, not only for academic staff, but also central support services, faculty and school administrators as well as students.
Against this backdrop, this presentation aims to explore the varied reasons for why this is the case. Taking into consideration the strengths and weaknesses of the two central systems that support esubmission: Blackboard Assignment tool and Turnitin and GradeMark which are both widely used across the UK Higher education sector. We will report on the outcomes of the project based on the responses to a questionnaire responded to by academic, research and professional services staff. (n346).
The session is aimed at staff at any institutional level who is interested in issues of Electronic Management of Assessment (EMA), eSubmission and eMarking. The session will include opportunity for attendees to exchange their experiences and strategies of institutional policy implementations of EMA.
Workshop Interactivity: The session will use “Think, pair, share” method as well as live in class mobile polling via the Socrative app.
References
Association for Learning Technology Annual Survey 2016 Data and Report http://repository.alt.ac.uk/2369/1/ReportingfromtheAnnualSurvey2016.pdf (Accessed 14/3/17)
Davies, S, Mullan, J. and Feldman, P. (2017) Rebooting Learning for the Digital Age. Higher education Policy Institute (HEPI) http://www.hepi.ac.uk/2017/02/02/3830/ (Accessed 16.2.2017)
Newland, B, Martin, L, Electronic Management of Assessment 2016: a Heads of eLearning Forum (HeLF) Survey Report (pdf) https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bz7E74T5Am22bXpIRmxxV0RyRWM (Accessed 24/3/17)
