Implementing perception across a large HEI: getting it right

Warburton, Bill and Harwood, Ian (2004) Implementing perception across a large HEI: getting it right. Questionmark 2004 European User Conference, Edinburgh, UK. 25 - 27 May 2004.

Abstract

Assessment is a sensitive issue, and converting traditional methods of assessment to Computer-Assisted Assessment (CAA) is acknowledged to be a risky activity (Harwood & Warburton 2004; Zakrzewski & Steven 2000). As students become more litigious (Baty 2004; QAA 1998) and competitive pressures increase Universities cannot afford mistakes when implementing new assessment strategies.
The University of Southampton is developing a managed learning environment (MLE). It ran a pilot Perception CAA project across the institution in preparation for the launch of Perception as a full-scale University CAA service, in anticipation of its integration into the MLE. Many Perception tests were run during this project, but two different large simultaneous tests failed irretrievably. In one case the outcome was positive, whilst the other was less so.
This paper reflects on the differences between these two failed tests and thereby presents a novel view of the issues inherent in implementing CAA on an institutional scale. Only one study of ameliorating genuine CAA failures was found in the literature (Harwood 2004) and most published studies are of small-scale CAA practice where the risks are perhaps more apparent and more easily contained, rather than the full-scale institutional implementation which is the context of this study (Kennedy 1998).

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