Crowd sourcing Technology Enhanced Assessment [A-074] Members : ALT's Summer Summit 2020

Group Admins

Public Group Active 2 years, 7 months ago

Wed, Aug 26 2020, 1:00pm – 2:00pm

Authors: Suzanne Stone

Room: Bell Seminar Room

Type: Parallel Session (30mins)

If you’ve enjoyed this video and are not a Member of ALT find out more about joining.

Description

Session Description

In December 2019, the proposers facilitated an edit-a-thon as part of the ALTC winter conference to initiate the development of an Open Educational Resource (OER) of technology-enhanced assessments. Faculty who have used traditional assessment methods for some time often have difficulty conceptualising the opportunities that digital technologies can offer. In working with faculty, the proposers realised that technology-enhanced assessment exemplars could support educators to re-imagine assessment design. Crowd-sourcing was an obvious strategy for such a resource as it afforded the opportunity to draw on the experience of the community. Crowd-sourcing also aligns with constructivist and connectivist theories of learning which the facilitators identify with in terms of their practice (Brennan, 2015; Donlon, Costello & Brown, 2020; Mattar, 2018). The open nature of crowd-sourcing dictated that the resource be designed as an OER, aligning with open practice which is widespread in the area of learning technology (Koseoglu S. & Bozkurt, A., 2018; Weller, 2015).

The winter conference was an ideal opportunity to kick-start the resource, and practitioners from the community in Ireland and the UK contributed robust and well-structured case studies. Since the conference, the OER has been further developed, and now comprises 20 case studies from across a range of contexts and disciplines. The resource has been disseminated at local University level and at national level through the Enhancing Digital Teaching & Learning project structure. The resource was also used to support the recent pivot to alternative assessments in response to the Covid-19 crisis.

Anecdotal feedback has been very positive and it is proposed to continue developing the resource through a reflective crowd-sourcing workshop. Structured in two parts, part 1 (15 minutes) will involve a reflection on technology-enhanced assessment scaffolded by a brief 5 minute presentation on 3 key opportunities of technology-enhanced assessment identified in the literature: authenticity; academic integrity and flexibility (linked to Universal Design for Learning principles). Participants will be invited to discuss the evidence base for technology-enhanced assessment in smaller groups (4-5) drawing on their own experience of assessment/technology-enhanced assessment. The group discussion will be fed back to the main room through a Vevox poll to allow all voices be heard within the short timeframe. Part 2 (15 minutes) will involve participants engaging engage with the Open Educational Resource through an edit-a-thon process using a simple google document/printed templates. In line with Zhao & Zhu’s research on intrinsic and extrinsic motivation in crowd-sourcing contests, rewards will be offered to participants for completing a range of challenges during the session. It is likely that participants will need time to work independently on finalising these exemplars so the purpose of the edit-a-thon is to spark engagement with the OER.

On completion of the session, the facilitators will update the Open Educational Resource and make it available under creative commons licensing on the EDTL project website.

References

Brennan, K. (2015. Beyond technocentrism: Supporting constructionism in the classroom. Constructivist Foundations, 10(3), 289–296. Retrieved from http://constructivist.info/10/3/289

Donlon, E., Costello, E. and Brown, M., (2020) Collaboration, collation, and competition: Crowdsourcing a directory of educational technology tools for teaching and learning. Australasian Journal of Educational Technology, pp.41-55.

JISC (2016) Enhancing assessment and feedback with technology: a guide for FE and skills. [Blog] Available at: [Accessed 30 April 2020].

Koseoglu S. & Bozkurt, A. (2018) An exploratory literature review on open educational practices, Distance Education, 39:4, 441-461, DOI: 10.1080/01587919.2018.1520042

Lowney R. & Stone, S. (March 2020) Technology-Enhanced Assessment Exemplars: Available @ https://docs.google.com/document/d/1-53jSmf_uf46ojZKL4vJRuLtEHNZ9hdQs7lR_LH5ypM/edit?usp=sharing

Mattar, J. (2018) “Constructivism and connectivism in education technology: Active, situated, authentic, experiential, and anchored learning”, Revista Iberoamericana de Educación a Distancia, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 201-217.

Sweeney, T., West, D., Groessler, A., Haynie, A., Higgs, B. M., Macaulay, J., Mercer-Mapstone, L. and Yeo, M. (2017) Where’s the transformation? Unlocking the potential of technology-enhanced assessment’, Teaching and Learning Inquiry, 5(1), pp. 1-16. doi: 10.20343/5.1.5
Published Version: 10.20343/5.1.5

Weller, M., de los Arcos, B., Farrow, R., Pitt, B. & McAndrew, P. (2015) The Impact of OER on Teaching and Learning Practice. Open Praxis, 7(4), 351-361. International Council for Open and Distance Education. Retrieved April 30, 2020 from https://www.learntechlib.org/p/161984/.

Zhao, Y. C., & Zhu, Q. (2014) Effects of extrinsic and intrinsic motivation on participation in crowdsourcing contest. Online Information Review, 38(7), 896–917. https://doi.org/10.1108/OIR-08- 2014-0188

Go Back