Testing and assessment
Testing and assessment covers all activities performed to gain insight in the students’ level. Formative testing involves inviting student to practise with practice materials. Diagnostic testing can be used for to help students structure their learning process or stimulate them to study independently. And summative testing helps determine whether a student masters the course content.
For each of these there are different ICT tools available:
Formative digital testing
Formative digital testing refers to practising using study materials. The most common format is a multiple-question test with a feedback per answer option. Study materials may include text, but also audio or video clips.
The scores obtained can be used to weigh in for a final grade or as a precondition for completing the course. On the Brightspace support site, see:
Faculties are currently experimenting with creating specialised testing software. If you have any questions about digital testing, please contact your ICT and Education coordinator.
Summative digital testing
The University is currently creating an inventory of summative digital testing options. One such option is Print & Scan, which involves generating and printing a test from a digital pool. Students can complete the test on paper, following which the answer sheets are scanned and assessed as automatically as possible. This service is for example offered by ICLON’s test and examination service.
Correcting tests online
You can use digital correcting tools to quickly and effectively assess your students assignments online. Assessment may consist of grades, but also labels or marks that can be ‘pasted’ from typed or spoken comments.
Rubrics
In addition, you can use a rubric: an assessment matrix that allows you to bring nuance to your assessment, by assessing argumentation, style, language use or bibliography. You can correct assignments online via GradeMark, available in Brightspace in Turnitin. On the Brightspace support site, see:
If you have any questions about GradeMark, please contact your ICT and Education coordinator.
Peer review
Peer review is a teaching method whereby students assess each other’s work, for example based on criteria formulated by the lecturer. This usually leads to higher-quality final versions. For more information about peer review, see under Collaborative learning.
Checking for plagiarism
When assessing students’ work, it is essential that you check it for plagiarism. Plagiarism is a violation of another person’s intellectual property. The University considers plagiarism to be a severe offence and has therefore set out a number of guidelines in this respect.
Plagiarism detection software makes it easier to check whether submitted assignments contain texts by other authors without proper references. The University works with the plagiarism detection software Turnitin. Turnitin is available via Brightspace.
For more information, please contact your ICT and Education coordinator.
Help with testing and assessment
ICLON’s in-house experts know how to test, create good test questions, work with test matrices and interpret statistical data after a test. They also offer instructions on all of the above. For more information, see workshops and training programmes.