Kilmarnock College
Sector leading practice in the use of e-assessment in health and social care
Building on previous use of the college VLE by staff/students, staff from the Health
and Social Care curriculum area developed and implemented a completely VLE
based assessment process for all units within HNC Social Care. The difference
between this and the more routine approach to e-assessment is that this model had
all assessment as e-assessment rather than smaller parts. The project was also
fully monitored and evaluated.
The outcomes for this were varied and included:
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Increased flexibility for students including continuous, open access
Increased flexibility for staff including 24/7 access, the ability to mark
when outwith the college building
Reduction in paper usage
Increased support for students during assessment process
Increased focus on assessment and increased submission rates
Centralisation and security of assessments and assessment feedback
Standardisation of delivery and support over different cohorts and modes of
attendance
Better use of technology to reduce assessment burden for students
Improved student ICT skills and confidence
Prepared students for future study
The implementation involved using the features within the VLE (Moodle) to support
the assessment and feedback process. One feature was the ability for students to
upload their assessments to the VLE for marking and feedback by the lecturer.
Lecturers can mark, grade and return a feedback document to the learner via the
VLE for students to access. Another feature that was used is the ‘Forum’ tool which
allowed students to work in groups on an assessment project. Alongside the VLE
tools used for assessment were supporting materials on the VLE. Students can
access questions, case studies including audio versions and video guides to the
assessment recorded by the lecturer.
Staff and learner feedback on this is positive, with staff saying that the project
exceeded their expectations, and 90% of learners in a survey recommended it be
adopted for other courses.