Formally Launched: the BLE E-Book on Assessment, Feedback and Technology

Our new Open Access e-book provides valuable insight into the way technology can enhance assessment and feedback. It was launched formally on 26th October by Birkbeck’s Secretary Keith Harrison, with talks from the editors Leo Havemann (Birkbeck, University of London) and Sarah Sherman (BLE Consortium), three case study authors, and event sponsor Panopto.

Havemann, Leo; Sherman, Sarah (2017): Assessment, Feedback and Technology: Contexts and Case Studies in Bloomsbury. London: Bloomsbury Learning Environment.
View and download from: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.5315224.v1

The Book

Book cover page

The book is a result of a two-year project on e-assessment and feedback run by the Bloomsbury Learning Environment (BLE), a collaboration between six institutions on issues around digital technology in Higher Education. It contains three research papers which capture snapshots of current practice, and 21 case studies from the BLE partner institutions and a little beyond.

The three papers focus on

• the use of technology across the assessment lifecycle,
• the roles played by administrative staff in assessment processes,
• technology-supported assessment in distance learning.

The case studies are categorised under the headings:

• alternative [assessment] tasks and formats,
• students feeding back,
• assessing at scale,
• multimedia approaches, and
• technical developments.

The 21 case studies report on examples of blogging, group assessment, peer, self and audiovisual feedback, on assessment in distance education, MOOCs and other online contexts, and on developments driven forward by Bloomsbury-based colleagues such as the My Feedback Report plugin for Moodle and the Coursework module.

Why you should read the e-book

BLE E-Book Launch Event

As one of the speakers at the entertaining launch event, I suggested three reasons why everybody involved in Higher Education should read this book, in particular the case studies:

1. Processes in context:
   The case studies succinctly describe assessment and feedback processes in context, so you can quickly decide whether these processes are transferable to your own situation, and you will get a basic prompt on how implement the assessment/feedback process.
    
2. Problems are highlighted:
   Some case studies don’t shy away from raising issues and difficulties, so you can judge for yourself whether these difficulties represent risks in your context, and how these risks can be managed.
    
3. Practical tips:
   All case studies follow the same structure. If you are in a hurry, make sure to read at least the Take Away sections of each case study, which are full of tips and tricks, many of which apply to situations beyond the case study.

Overall, this collection of papers and case studies on assessment and feedback is easily digestible and contributes to an exchange of good practice.

View and Download the Book

The e-book is an Open Access publication freely available below.

For further information, see ble.ac.uk/ebook.html
and view author profiles at ble.ac.uk/ebook_contributors.html

A version of this article appeared on the UCL Digital Education blog.

What have YOU been doing this summer?

Me? Well, with Leo Havemann, I have spent a fair bit of time this summer putting together our long-awaited e-book, Assessment, Feedback and Technology: Contexts and Case Studies in Bloomsbury. The book is an amalgamation of the written outputs from the Bloomsbury Enhancing Assessment & Feedback project, which closed last year. The collection of research papers and case studies included offers a snapshot of the progress our Colleges have made in the processes around the Electronic Management of Assessment. This will (we hope) be of interest and real benefit to the education community at large.

The book will be freely available to download in the next few months - more details can be accessed here, including reserving a copy once it's available!

BLE Online Assessment & Feedback Project

From this academic year, the BLE is taking a project-based approach to its activities, where specific projects will be commissioned annually, coordinated by the BLE Service Manager. The projects will be carefully targeted to ensure the topic is of relevance to the individual institutions. The purpose of this new approach is to improve academic engagement, support the BLE’s increasingly recognised profile and extend relationships with other organisations and commercial suppliers.

It has been agreed that online assessment and feedback will be the theme for 2014-15. This theme is of significant importance to the Bloomsbury Colleges as it strongly affects the student academic experience of university life. The aim of the project is to identify and showcase good practice across the Colleges by developing case studies, delivering showcase events and offering workshops. 

You can look at the project's Business Case here; if you're interested in getting involved, do get in touch!