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Choose an online assessment type

Overview of the benefits of online assessment and tips to help you plan and select the most appropriate assessment tool.

About assignments

Assignment activities in Moodle enable students to submit their coursework as a file upload or online text and enables the lecturer to assess, grade and provide feedback. 

Assignment benefits

  • Convenience of not having to travel to hand in assignments.
  • Avoidance of printing costs.
  • Time savings and avoidance of anxiety about assignments going missing.
  • Automatic proof of receipt.
  • Improved confidence provided by the privacy, safety and security of e-submission.
  • Confidence of knowing work is backed up.
  • Electronic reminders about deadlines and improved clarity about turnaround times for marking.
  • Realistic timing of submission deadlines.
  • Meeting expectations - that this is normal practice in a digital age.

(Ferrell & Gray, 2016)

  • Greater transparency which has been shown to improve the standard and consistency of marking and feedback comments.
  • Improved clarity of marking and feedback.
  • Reduced workload, making it feasible to assess learners’ understanding more frequently.
  • Reduced administrative burden, leaving more time to focus on individuals experiencing difficulties.
  • New opportunities to improve student understanding, for example, by extracting and analysing data held in an online marking system to achieve a more timely response to errors and weaknesses.
  • Increased satisfaction when improved feedback has a positive impact on student attainment.
  • The convenience of not having to collect and carry large quantities of paper.
  • The convenience of electronic filing.
  • The security of having work backed up on an online system.
  • The ability to moderate marks without having to physically exchange paper.
  • The increased speed and efficiency of being able to reuse common comments.
  • The convenience of being able to undertake originality and plagiarism checking in the same environment as marking.
  • Reduced data input and batch upload of marks.

 (Ferrell & Gray, 2016)

Which assignment activity?

Moodle has a range of assignment activities, but how do you select the most effective one to meet your pedagogical requirements around the types of assignments that students submit and the ways in which you deliver grades and feedback?

To help select the most appropriate assignment tool to meet your requirements you can use the Assignment activity selector to find which of the most commonly used assignment tools in Moodle best meets your requirements for student assignment submissions and feedback and grading.

References

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