Over the past few years, a growing number of institutions have made the switch to a digital assessment platform. While there are a number of reasons for an institution to make this transition, one of the most important for many is a reduction in the administrative burden. So, how does a digital assessment platform lighten the administrative load for university staff? 

Centralising processes 

One of the major benefits of implementing digital assessment at your institution is that every aspect of the academic and administrative journey, from the creation of an examination to marking, feedback, moderation and grading, takes place on one platform. This helps to streamline an institution’s processes, and can make the creation, management and delivery of exams and assessments quicker and easier for staff.  

This also extends to further tasks handled by administrative staff at an institution, such as registering students, enrolling them and registering their grades.

Digital assessment means no more paper 

While paperless is the point, it is important to recognise how much this reduces the administrative burden. Previously, institutions needed to print out exams for every student and then mark every assignment by hand. Not only this, but they then needed to write and print feedback, which had to be individually circulated to every student.  

Having a digital platform means that there are huge savings in not only time and effort, but also in terms of money spent on printing and circulating the many pieces of paper that would have been used during the assessment process. Papers are simply marked online, feedback is given and everything is circulated back to students. The process is smooth and simple.   

University College London (UCL) told us that one of the ‘realised benefits of transitioning to WISEflow included a significant reduction in time spent copying grades from AssessmentUCL (UCL’s name for WISEflow) into SITS (their student information system). This resulted in a more efficient process and, crucially, a better student experience.’ 

Improving accessibility 

Having one centralised platform at an institution means that assessments can be set over multiple campuses at any one time, greatly improving accessibility for students. Gone are the days of sending exam papers to different locations and trying to organise concurrent exams in the same subjects. 

For example, UiT uses WISEflow to ‘create flows that can be used across multiple campuses.’ The university is able to ‘include all (four) campuses within one concurrent flow, and then just filter and sort by examination rooms.’ Staff can handle large-scale tasks with ease, opening up new possibilities for institutions.  

Efficient feedback 

Using an online platform allows for instant feedback for students, not just on submitted assignments but on any aspect of their academic journey. Tutors are able to provide students with meaningful insights on tutorials, mock exams and more, supporting positive learning outcomes while streamlining the process for staff.  

With digital assessment reducing the administrative burden so effectively, could it be time for your institution to make the digital switch? Get in touch at hello@uniwise.eu  

In a recent case study with the Arctic University of Norway (UiT), Maria Mykelstad, Administrative Manager, told us that ‘a lot of what we would consider the “administrative burden” is now almost non-existent. All the time spent registering grades, scanning paper, sending exams to assessors, and ensuring external moderation – we don’t even regard this as work anymore!’ 

Lezel Roddeck, Director of Foreign Communications at Bucerius Law School, told us that WISEflow has allowed her to ‘give students oral feedback immediately, and we’ve set up rubrics where I can include some brief comments and even a voice memo. It's made it much easier for us because we aim to give student continual feedback in our courses, which normally takes a lot of time. WISEflow has definitely improved the effectiveness of giving students’ feedback across our courses.’