Student satisfaction and digital assessment
Institutions across the globe are increasingly moving towards an online learning approach, with many opting to transition to a digital assessment platform. While this can have numerous benefits for institutions, digital assessment platforms can also increase student satisfaction in a number of ways.
Increased flexibility
One of the main ways that online assessment can boost student satisfaction is through the increased level of flexibility that candidates can experience when going digital. A lot of students may work better from their own homes or in spaces where they feel more comfortable than on university campuses. With digital assessment, many exam types can be taken anywhere, as long as students have their own devices that they can sit these exams on, meaning there is far more flexibility and choice involved.
Online learning also allows exam authors to create different types of formative and summative assessments, meaning that students have a greater breadth of assessment types to choose from, and increasing the likelihood they will be studying in a manner that better suits them. As Professor Mariann Rand-Weaver, vice-provost (education), Brunel University London, has commented: ‘students are positive - they take digital assessments in their stride and reported enjoying working on their laptops – essentially, what’s the big deal?"
Increased accessibility
Building on this idea of increased flexibility, online learning can also greatly increase accessibility for students. Using a digital assessment platform ensures that students can access their institution’s system from anywhere, enabling institutions to support distance learning and thereby continuing to revolutionise the learning process for students worldwide. This can be particularly beneficial for students that might have disabilities, and so would find either travelling to or navigating around campuses difficult. Beyond this, enabled distance learning can also provide opportunities for students with mental health issues, allowing them the freedom to work from areas in which they feel safest when necessary. This inherent personalisation can increase satisfaction significantly, as it reduces the burden of stress on student communities.
Enhanced user experience
Another way that digital assessment can benefit students is through an enhanced user experience. WISEflow, for example, is an end-to-end platform, meaning that the entire assessment and feedback lifecycle is supported within one centralised system. This means that results are often received far quicker, and students can enjoy readily accessible, detailed feedback due to more efficient marking processes. WISEflow also offers rubrics as multidimensional sets of scoring guidelines, to provide consistency in evaluating student work.
Data analytics and student support
There are further resources within WISEflow that can enhance the user experience too. Data analytics can be used by university staff to gain a better understanding of student needs and behaviours, with Professor Mariann Rand-Weaver claiming that using students’ ‘digital footprints’ helped to inform Brunel University London of those students that might be in need of further monitoring/attention.
Robyn Fitzharris, executive officer to the vice-provost, explained that ‘combining this with wider student information, Brunel compared those who took exams with those who didn't and asked whether they were unable to access assessments (digital poverty?), and if they needed to be proactive in reaching out to support them’. This can greatly improve an institution’s ability to support students, which can in turn enhance the user experience significantly.
Realistic assessment and student preparation
One increasingly important way that digital assessment can aid students is through its ability to prepare them for what’s next. Personalised and varied assessment types can allow students to experience situations that are closer to those encountered the real world of work. For example, Brunel University swapped their traditional three-hour essays used in Politics and History with an extended exam that allows more expansive questions to be set – a format that’s closer to a real-life experience. These opportunities to prepare and support students do not go unnoticed.
With digital assessment increasing student satisfaction in so many ways, could it be time for your institution to make the digital switch? Get in touch at hello@uniwise.eu