Predictors of students’ preferences for assessment methods

Neto, Joana; Neto, Félix; Furnham, Adrian

doi:10.1080/02602938.2022.2087860

Cited by 6 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 28 publications

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“…In a study of preferences amongst various assessment methods (Neto et al ., 2022), students rated group work lowest in fairness and accuracy compared to other assessment options. The authors speculate that this belief forms when the same grade is awarded to all group members, despite sizable differences in individual effort levels.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A streamlined survey instrument to moderate university students' grades for group projects

Dix

2024

APJML

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PurposeThe aim of this paper is to generate a streamlined, transparent and effective instrument to fairly measure the contribution made by each student to a group project within a higher education context. The primary aim is to moderate the grades of underperforming students at the end of the project. There is a secondary benefit in alerting underperforming students to raise their contribution mid-task or face a potentially reduced grade at the final stage.Design/methodology/approachThe development of this multi-dimensional instrument is guided by findings from previous research. The quest is to minimise the instructor's administrative work load in applying a moderation-only instrument that is open-source and available at no cost. Based on the literature, the survey instrument seeks to apply a peer-based, equitable and transparent evaluation of each member's contribution to a group task. The survey is applied at mid-task and again at end-task in order to afford underperformers the opportunity to address contribution deficits during the final phase of the project.FindingsThe instrument, called TANDEM©, offers a transparent, streamlined, equitable, confidential and practical measure of each student's contribution to a graded group task. Students whose end-task contribution falls below the group average rating receive a proportional reduction in their personal grade. Additionally, the end-task moderation instrument captures a single-item holistic measure of relative contribution that may, in the future, serve as a surrogate for the multi-dimensional measures currently in place.Research limitations/implicationsTANDEM© was developed with group sizes of four or five members in mind. There is no evidence to support its application to three-person groups. Moreover, the application was applied only amongst under-graduate students. It is yet to be applied across post-graduate groups and within online learning environments. Future research into diverse cultural settings would serve to advance understanding of how moderation is perceived across borders.Practical implicationsSeveral existing group grade moderation methods propose complex algorithms that are “black box” solutions from a student's perspective. In establishing a fair, streamlined, confidential and transparent process for peer-rated moderation, TANDEM© deploys a concise instrument with a relatively small administrative load. TANDEM © may be applied to all groups or can selectively be applied to groups that report moderate, strong or extreme levels of conflict.Social implicationsStudents will appreciate the opportunity to rate peer contributions to group projects. This will dissipate the negative social sentiment that may arise when fellow students benefit from the work of others. Those students seeking conflict resolution within the group will value the transparent and equitable moderation of grades as well as the positive social implications that follow.Originality/valueThis research forms part of an ongoing quest to present a moderation instrument that fairly identifies student contribution to a group project. Whilst the solution proposed is one of many existing alternatives, its focus is on a practical moderation-only instrument that can immediately be applied to a course or major. The benefits lie in the ease of application and minimal administrative workload. This constitutes an original contribution to the individual (course or major) coordinator who seeks to apply a moderation-only instrument without having to commit to an extensive, broad-based group optimisation programme.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

A streamlined survey instrument to moderate university students' grades for group projects

Dix

2024

APJML

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“…Academic activities such as e-learning and e-academic advising have become crucial elements that afford novel prospects and methods to teaching, learning and assessment in higher education. As such, the Covid-19 pandemic drove higher education into a mode referred to as the emergency remote teaching (ERT), that brought with it, the need to rapidly integrate digital tools and technologies for different assessment methods (Villarroel et al, 2019;Neto et al, 2022). The emergency nature and the rapid integration of ICTs in assessments (e-assessments), potentially posed a threat to academic integrity in such assessments.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Exploring drivers of academic integrity violation in e-assessments by students during the emergency remote teaching

Mangundu¹

2022

MyRES

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The unprecedented Covid-19 pandemic has suddenly driven higher education institutions towards emergency remote teaching (ERT) to save academic programmes. Despite the benefits brought by remote teaching, it has the potential to bring negative consequences such as compromised academic integrity resulting from the use of e-assessments in environments lacking sufficient pandemic response readiness and mechanisms. A few studies have been conducted on the academic integrity challenges of e-assessments during ERT in universities from a developing country perspective. This quantitative study aimed to examine challenges to the academic integrity of e-assessments during ERT through a literature survey and an online survey questionnaire, collecting and analysing data from a randomly selected sample of 201 students in a South African university. Through confirmatory factor analysis (CFA), findings revealed that individual and institutional factors negatively impact the lack of academic integrity when doing e-assessments. However, technological factors do not impact the academic integrity of students using e-assessments. Gender differences caused significantly different findings, but age differences did not. The study concludes with recommendations for improving policy and research around the academic integrity of e-assessments. This work reveals how university communities can be assisted to improve their understanding of academic integrity challenges and adopt measures to solve them.

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“…Although some students may at least initially be wary of innovative forms of assessment that they have not encountered (e.g., DeLuca et al, 2018;Gijbels & Dochy, 2006), research has shown that students respond well to assessment that they find authentic. In addition, they recognize forms of assessment that are less or more effective at gauging their learning, although effectiveness may not align with their preferences (e.g., Crick, 2010;Neto et al, 2022). Bols (2012) asserted that innovative assessment can be an effective way to engage students and students will expect more innovation as more formative assessment and creativity is introduced into classrooms.…”

Section: Students' Experiences With Assessment In Universitymentioning

confidence: 99%

“…There was also less information available to students on grading criteria for A-level exams than for their university exams (Wilson et al, 2017). Wilson et al's (2017) findings demonstrated the impacts of high school assessment in setting up expectations for university, as well as how early students develop notions of assessment fairness and how valid assessments are in representing their knowledge (see also Crick, 2010;Denison, 1999;Neto et al, 2022;Quintana, 2014;Xiao & Carless, 2013).…”

Section: Comparisons Of Assessment In High School and Universitymentioning

confidence: 99%

The Development of Students' Assessment Literacies as They Transition to University: An Exploratory Case Study

Beynen¹

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Changes in academic demands, expectations, and ways of demonstrating knowledge through assessments are among the challenges faced by students transitioning to university. There is transition research in the Canadian context, but little documenting students' experiences with assessment, or how they develop their assessment literacies (e.g., understanding assessment in the course context and how assessment information is used to monitor and improve learning). This research examined how first-year university students' experiences with, knowledge of, and expectations about assessment impacted the development of their assessment literacies as they transitioned to university. The exploratory case study was theoretically framed by social cognitive theory (Bandura, 1977a(Bandura, , 1986 and reflexivity (e.g., Ryan, 2015;Schön, 1983Schön, , 1987. Three data sources were collected from ten first-year student participants: course assessment documents that triangulated students' responses from two semi-structured interviews and students' assessment journal entries. These data were coded using Saldaña's (2016) structural, emotion, and values coding. Course assessment documents were compared and considered in order to understand how students receive, make sense of, and use feedback.Hattie and Timperley (2007) pointed out that feedback that is controlling, negative, or uninformative can negatively impact motivation and self-regulation by reducing students' autonomy and self-efficacy. Black and Wiliam (1998a) believed in the importance of open and clear communication between teachers and students to aid in the understanding and uptake of formative feedback and feed-forward: "…dialogue between pupils and a teacher should be thoughtful, reflective, focused to evoke and explore understanding, and conducted so that all pupils have an opportunity to think and to express their ideas" (p. 86).Hyland and Hyland ( 2001) noted the important interpersonal aspects involved in the communication of feedback and there is a growing trend in the feedback literature that emphasizes students' role in the feedback process, making it a cycle of communication and action between teachers and students as opposed to a one-way, single communication of information that starts with teachers and ends with students (e.g., Boud & Molloy, 2013;Molloy & Boud, 2014). This shift in focus to the role of students and indeed, including students, was also seen above in relation to student-centred learning and building students' autonomy. However, this shift seems to have occurred in theory only in many instances since the majority of exchanges in assessment and feedback occur between teachers and students, with a significant power imbalance and often one-way, single communications (e.g., Boud & Molloy, 2013;Molloy & Boud, 2014). In the context of feedback on written work, Hyland and Hyland (2001) observed that feedback not only communicates teacher reactions to and advice on student work, but it also communicates a teacher's stance and beliefs about writing.

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Predictors of students’ preferences for assessment methods

Cited by 6 publications

References 28 publications

A streamlined survey instrument to moderate university students' grades for group projects

A streamlined survey instrument to moderate university students' grades for group projects

Exploring drivers of academic integrity violation in e-assessments by students during the emergency remote teaching

The Development of Students' Assessment Literacies as They Transition to University: An Exploratory Case Study

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