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This page is intended to advise on good practice and make suggestions consistent with the agreed Principles of Assessment. Please note that these apply to the full 2020/21 Academic Year.

Note: This page continues to be developed.

Download a printable copy of this guidance.

Moving to alternative online assessments

The following sections set out a common assessment method, identify issues in the current climate, and make suggestions for alternative online assessment.

In keeping with our response earlier in 2020, it remains key that we keep things simple and clear to reduce the anxiety of students and the burden on yourself.

Something again to consider here is how will this assessment be achieved if your students have limited Internet access? Do your students need to have internet access to:

do research on this assignment?
use online tools to do this assignment?
submit this assignment?

Where your existing assessment is already online - an alternative is not needed.

Before developing an alternative assessment, first, consider whether your planned resit assessment can be used to meet the objective of getting your assessment online.

If you do need to develop an alternative assessment, begin by reviewing the learning outcomes you need to assess. Be sure to use options that will be familiar and accessible to students and which are very easy to support.

It is still important that we design a simple alternative (at the appropriate academic level) that does not demand complex requirements from the student in order to undertake the task.

For example, an examination paper could simply be replaced by another task such as an essay question which tests the same content and outcomes (with assessment criteria appropriately modified). Please see the agreed Principles of Assessment and note the restrictions on Examination tasks at this time.

Note: Be mindful that your students may not have experienced your revised assessment method before and will need clear guidance about what they are expected to do. For example, students need to be introduced to the method and the assessment criteria on which they will be judged. (See an example of marking criteria for online discussions).

Alternative Assessments and Reasonable Adjustments

Please be mindful of students with reasonable adjustments in place, particularly when communicating alternative assessment details. Providing these students with an opportunity to discuss new assessment requirements in advance and signposting to support with the Disability and Dyslexia team will be particularly helpful. Students can email disability@aru.ac.uk for appointments and any other enquiries. Appointments via email or Microsoft Teams are available to all students registered with the Disability and Dyslexia Support service.

Written exams
In-class presentations
Assessed group activities, discussions and similar events
Laboratory work
Posters and exhibitions
Peer assessments and support
Media / large file on USB submitted to iCentre
Studio based assessment tasks
Viva Voce exams, e.g. for PhD examinations in person
Face-to-face feedback
Take-home assessment
Summary of submission options
Further guidance
- Canvas guidance (staff)
- Canvas guidance (students)

Written exams

What: Written exams (i.e. time-constrained unseen exams in invigilated exam rooms).

Suggestion:

Please see the agreed Principles of Assessment in full and note the restrictions on Examination tasks at this time. In summary, unless required examinations will not be held at all during the 2020/21 Academic Year (i.e. Trimester 1, 2 & 3) and, therefore, will be replaced with alternative forms of assessment that satisfy the same module intended learning outcomes. A useful approach to this is the design of a take-home assessment, undertaken under time-limited conditions.

For example:

- The exam papers already prepared for traditional examinations can be used as the basis for the take-home assessment.
- The assessment is made available to students at a designated time via Canvas. Students then submit their work to Turnitin in a single document.
- It is suggested that you allow students 24-hours to submit the assessment. However, they should be expected to spend significantly less than that time on the task itself. In thinking about the timing of the assessment, it is important for us to recognise that students will complete it in different time zones and may have a Statement of Reasonable Adjustments. A 24-hour period accommodates both of these situations. Assessments should be made available from the start of the 24-hour submission window, e.g. if the final papers must be submitted at 10:00am on Wednesday, the paper should be made available from 10:00am on Tuesday.
- Module leaders should specify a word limit for each submission, and also remind students about the usual expectations for exams (e.g. no footnotes or bibliography).
- Students should also clearly be reminded that their take-home assessments will be subject to the usual Turnitin plagiarism checks.
- Take-home assessment submissions should be marked according to existing anonymity practices.
- Consideration is needed for staggering the timetabling and submission of these online exams to ensure students can manage and that appropriate support is available.

In some exceptional cases, some specific examinations may have to run during the 2020/21 Academic Year (such as an explicit PSRB requirement). This would be permitted under the Principles for Assessment in only where:

this has been agreed in advance with an 'appropriate authority' - which is the Deputy Dean representing the Faculty on the Covid-19 Education Matters Group, and that
the Academic Registrar then be advised accordingly.

Similarly, if these examinations are also required by the PSRB to be undertaken under Remote Proctored conditions, this must also have been agreed upon within the Faculty and previously approved at the Scenario Planning: Educational Technology Group.

Please Note: Faculties have already identified examinations that are required to take place and that require Remote Proctoring - suitable provision has already been secured on this basis. If you believe you need to run a Remote Proctored examination and do not know if this is on the approved and supported list of assessments, please discuss your requirements with your Faculty DLTA, before making further arrangements.

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In-class presentations

What: Individual or group presentations. Group presentations reflect team-based approaches.

Suggestion:

Focus on assessing the individual contribution. Consider reducing the scope of the presentation to reflect the move from group to the individual.

Option 1 - Consider asking your students to upload their presentations as a PowerPoint to Turnitin with detailed notes for each slide instead of them giving the presentation in person or online.

Ask your students to submit their PowerPoint as a PDF document with the PowerPoint Notes field visible. To do this, students should print to PDF (File > Print > select the PDF option). In the Print dialogue settings, they will need to select 'Notes Pages' which prints each slide with the notes for that slide.

Option 2 - Ask students to submit a narrated PowerPoint presentation, which can then be tutor-marked. You can ask students to submit to Turnitin. Canvas could also be used for submission. This approach offers further options involving student peers in the review of submissions which you might want to investigate too.

Please be aware that we cannot stop Late Submissions to Canvas if the student has submitted before their Due Date (per Academic Regulation 6.60). Markers will need to be aware that Late Submissions may arrive in the Late Submission window from students who have already submitted before the Due Date. The Academic Registrar has agreed that a manual check is acceptable in these circumstances (Canvas will still flag the work as Late). Late submission of large files will need to be submitted to Canvas, as the existing Late Submission email process cannot receive anything over 23MB.

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Assessed group activities, discussions, and similar events

What: In some disciplines, group activities are assessed. These can be diverse in range but can involve time, place, and people specific dimensions, and in some cases, may need specific equipment and materials.

Suggestion: Be pragmatic - complex assessment methods designed for normal times, will need to be simplified. It may be that you cannot assess all of your learning outcomes using one method. You will probably need to consult with your Faculty Director of Learning, Teaching & Assessment to check or work out a realistic solution.

Look at your learning outcomes and consider how the emphasis of the assessment can be changed to focus on an individual submission. Reduce the dependency, if you can, on group performance.

Option 1 - Where the activity is essentially discussion-based, it can be facilitated as an assessed Discussion in Canvas.

Option 2 - Where the activity has previously involved demonstrating a technique or making a presentation, consider using video.

Be careful though:

Only use a video-based approach if you know you and all of your students are confident with using video.
Ensure the video element of the submission is short (<5 minutes).
Set realistic expectations in terms of quality, as the most straightforward device they'll be using is a phone or tablet
Share tips such as:
- Ask someone at home to record them if they are the subject;
- Typically keep the device still unless following action or process is significant;
- If sound is critical, turn off all extraneous sound sources in the environment (e.g. radios), close windows, move away from traffic, switch off other phones, etc.
- Shoot the video as close to the subject as possible to capture detail (visuals and sounds).
Ask them to record a video and submit it to Canvas stating clear guidance on the duration and file size, and acceptable file formats.
Allow students to have a test run, including test submission, to unearth any technical difficulties.
Students should submit their work to Canvas (see the section below on submitting large files below for more details about the limitations).

Make sure students understand what is expected and how their contributions will be assessed. Providing a step-by-step guide on how to submit will help.

Consider reducing the scope of the activity and ask students to focus more deeply on an aspect of it.

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Laboratory work

What: Laboratory experiments and other controlled environments in which students demonstrate their knowledge of a process and their ability to evaluate and present results.

Suggestion: It may be possible to replicate some aspects of lab work through simulations in which students are presented with data sets and required to interpret them – or perhaps pre and post lab requirements. The students' interpretations or reports can be uploaded to Turnitin for assessment.

Lab demonstrations can be used from existing videos and students can be assessed through Quizzes in Canvas.

Videos produced by you, your students, or others of experimental procedures may be available as the basis for students to produce reflective critiques or good or bad practice.

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Posters and exhibitions

What: Posters are used to present student coursework and require them to organise what they have done into a structured and visual representation of the work, with a commentary. Students are expected to 'talk to their poster', taking questions from invited others including academic tutors, peers, and external partners. The information here may also apply to the use of other methods in which a student exhibits their work for assessment.

Suggestion: If the work was going to be part of a conference-like poster presentation to an audience or a display of work, then you could ask students to take a photograph of their poster if it is not already digital.

Note: Where a poster has been produced in desktop publishing software, then it is strongly advised that the original file or a PDF of it is produced for submission as the detail of small text on a poster is likely to become illegible if photographed.

Prepare a small number of questions based on your assessment criteria which will allow you to differentiate your assessment of their work.

Option 1- Ask your students to produce a digital poster or digital exhibition and submit a short essay response with it (e.g. as a combined document to Turnitin).

Option 2 - Ask students to produce and submit a screencast video. To do this they can point to different areas of the poster with their mouse as they talk through the poster. Students can use the free, time-limited TechSmith Capture to do this. Microsoft Teams can also be used to record a screencast.

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Media / large file submitted on a USB stick to iCentre

What: A small number of courses have an exceptional requirement for the submission of large media and associated files. Normally, such assignments would be handed in on USB sticks through the iCentre, but we have been advised to avoid this.

Please remember: This is not a time for innovation in assessment. We are being asked to design a simple alternative (at the appropriate academic level) that does not demand complex requirements from the student in order to undertake the task. If you did not already have large media files as part of your assessment strategy, now is not the time to start experimenting.

It might not be realistic for all your students to submit large media files. In these exceptional times, consider the students who are no longer on campus and may be in a situation where it is no longer possible to produce or submit the piece of work they have started to the high-quality standards they expected

Suggestion: Look at the learning outcomes and focus on what you really need to evidence in the students’ work.

If the student has not yet finished their production it is likely they have created preparatory media (e.g. storyboards, clips of video). Ask your students to provide samples or embedded screenshots and produce a reflective commentary. These can be submitted via Canvas. You may decide to create a reflective framework to support them doing this and you should specify word counts and clarify other matters including your expectations for the written form, e.g. many students who selected media-rich courses may have dyslexia or other reasons why they prefer not to write. Reassure them about what is, and what is not, important.

If it is felt practical and not too disruptive to the students, ask them to submit their existing media files for assessment via Canvas. Do clarify in advance whether this is going to be realistic for them. Instructure / Canvas recommends 2GB maximum file size as best practice. When setting up the assignment using the Canvas Assignments tool, select the File Uploads option under Online Submission Type. However, note this option will only accept files up to 5GB in size. Do not select the Media option in the assignment settings, as this limits the file size to 500MB.

Please be aware that we cannot stop Late Submissions if the student has submitted before their Due Date (per Academic Regulation 6.60). Markers will need to be aware that Late Submissions may arrive in the Late Submission window from students who have already submitted before the Due Date. The Academic Registrar has agreed that a manual check is acceptable in these circumstances (Canvas will still flag the work as Late). Late submission of large files will need to be submitted to Canvas, as the existing Late Submission email process cannot receive anything over 23MB.

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Studio based assessment tasks

What: Physical artefacts or outputs are produced by the student as part of a project e.g. a Textiles based object.

Suggestion: Where the assessment is artefact driven but is accompanied by a written submission, students may be asked to submit the written work to Turnitin accompanied by photographic evidence of the production of the associated artefact.

Where the assessed event is through exhibitions of artefacts, this could be facilitated via a video submission of the exhibit.

Where the assessment was of textiles (fabric, metal, wood), or work requiring specialist supervision and/or equipment to make a piece – students could be provided with an alternative task such as a piece to critique and asked to submit a narrative to Turnitin on the method and approach taken to its creation.

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Peer assessments and support

Use a Discussion in Canvas for students to share their draft work as an attachment to their post.

You can also set upgraded Discussions which you can assign to Canvas groups, which allows you to monitor in the Grades section which students have actually posted.

Alternatively, you can encourage student peers to email each other drafts for comments.

Students can collaborate with each other using Office365 and Microsoft Teams to offer each other support and peer feedback.

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Viva Voce exams, e.g. for PhD examinations in person

These can be undertaken by using Microsoft Teams or Zoom (with special use case approval).

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Face-to-face feedback

Individual and generic group feedback can be delivered by tutors via audio or other online means. This can be achieved via Canvas' in-built media recording tool or by using tools such as Microsoft Teams.

You can also schedule virtual group “drop-ins” or office hours for individuals. Canvas Calendar can help you to schedule these.

Use Microsoft Teams (in Canvas) for these sessions.

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Take-home assessment

A take-home assessment is a mix between a coursework assignment and an open-book exam. It can be completed by the student at home with access to their lecture notes, internet and any books or resources which might be useful. However, the time between the release of the question(s) and the deadline for completion can be measured in hours or days (rather than weeks).

There are various thoughts regarding the timing of a take-home assessment.

At one end of the spectrum, the shortest period would be around four hours (closest to the two or three-hour traditional exam paper timing). However, this can present issues with digital skills or technical challenges – overloading both students and staff (and the receiving platform). It is also very problematic for students in different time-zones and those who may require reasonable adjustments.
An eight-hour window extends the period of time to manage the technical issues, but may not be enough for students who are in another time-zone or those who require reasonable adjustments. It may also still present similar issues in terms of overload.
Around 24-hours minimises technical and support issues and accommodates students abroad (in different time-zones). Similarly, such a period would accommodate any students with a Statement of Reasonable Adjustment (i.e. they would not be disadvantaged in comparison to any other student).

This approach is not about checking the recall or retention of knowledge, it is concerned with its application. You may have to check that the explanation of the task is clear about this to ensure students do not just copy and paste information but analyse and interpret it.

To implement, you can either send out an email with the question or publish the information on Canvas using pre-requisites in your Canvas Module. The assessment task should be completed by the students and submitted to Turnitin as usual. You will need to arrange for the creation of the submission point in Turnitin. Discuss any requirements for this with your Faculty Director of Teaching & Learning.

Tips:

Remind students about academic integrity and what kind of collaboration is permitted
Recommend appropriate sources that students may consult during the assessment
Remind students how they should cite the sources they use
Tell students all of this in writing

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Summary of submission options

Submission options
Method	File types	Pros	Cons
Turnitin	Originality report required: .doc, .docx, .odt, .wpd, .ps, .txt, .rtf, .pdf, .hwp, .ppt, .pptx, .ppsx, .pps, .xls, .xlsx, .gdoc, .gslides, .gsheet. Set to allow any file type. Accepts any file More information on this is available here.	Familiar workflow. Provides anonymity, plagiarism checking service, and marker allocation. Video library of Turnitin resources available here.	Limited to 100MB file size.
Canvas (exceptional accommodation for media / large files)	Canvas will accept any file under the maximum file limit. However, there are limitations on what can be seen in Canvas' Docviewer: .doc, .docx, .ppt, .pptx, .zip, .pdf, .odt, .odp, .ods, .odg, .odf, .sxw, .sxc, .sxi, .txt, .rtf., .bmp, .png, .jpg, .jpeg, .tif, .tiff More information on this is available here	Workflow within Canvas platform. Instructure Canvas recommends 2GB maximum file size as best practice. However, the File upload / Choose File workflow actually permits up to 5GB file. The difference between a File upload submission and Media upload submission is explained in this video. The student submission process is illustrated here (showing submission of three files). A generic video guide for student submissions is available here. A helpful guide on video compression has been produced by AHSS.	Marker allocation cannot be undertaken in the platform. Anonymous marking can be switched on and off. We cannot stop Late Submissions if the student has submitted before their Due Date (per Academic Regulation 6.60). The Academic Registrar has agreed that a manual check is acceptable in these circumstances (Canvas will still flag the work as Late). The Media / Record/upload media workflow limits the file to 500MB. Canvas Docviewer preview is limited to 100mb.
USB / DVD to iCentre	The current agreed Principles of Assessment advise submission methods should be exclusively electronic unless physical hand-in is absolutely necessary due to the nature of the subject matter or technical limitations meaning that electronic hand-in is simply impossible.	-	-

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Further Guidance

Pre-existing general support for Assessment & Feedback is available here.

Canvas guidance (Staff)

Instructure provides instructions and guidance on using the Canvas platform via their Community site.

The table of contents lists all guidance available for staff. Information and help on creating and using assignments in Canvas is available here.

Canvas guidance (Students)

Similarly, there is a table of contents listing all of the support available for students, with a specific section focussed on assignments (e.g. How to submit to an assignment).

File upload or Media upload submission?

A brief explanation of the difference between a student submission as a File upload or a Media upload. Both can accept media files, but there are some differences in file size limit and how the submission looks in Speedgrader. This video is also available on My.Player HERE (02:22)

Helping students submit to Canvas.

A short video illustrating the assignment submission process for a student. This example walks the student through the submission process on a demonstration Canvas Course. It navigates via the Assignment tool page as each faculty has used a different template, and the route to access this may vary accordingly. This video is also available on My.Player HERE. Download a guidance sheet for this. (02:07)

Updating a Canvas Assignment for Alternative Assessment.

A brief and high-level run-through of the process when updating a Canvas assignment in your module to receive an alternative assessment(e.g. most likely a large media file). This video is not needed if the alternative assessment is now going into Turnitin. In such cases, only the existing assignment description in Canvas needs to be updated including identifying that Turnitin is where students will submit. As each faculty uses a different template, this video only offers a simple explanation of the settings that need to be changed in the assignment, it does not cover issues around where the assignment tool is located or how it is made available to students. This video is also available on My.Player HERE (03:40)

Student View.

A useful little tool available to academics enrolled as Teachers on a Canvas Course. Want to check how a student would experience your assignment in Canvas - use this! This video is also available on My.Player HERE (02:11)

720 Video Recording on an Apple device.

A very brief video showing how to set up 720 video on an Apple phone. This will allow students to record high-quality media whilst keeping the file sizes to a minimum. The guide includes setting the 'most compatible' video format to ensure recordings can be played on all devices. This guide can be useful when submitting video files to Canvas. This video is also available on My.Player HERE. Download a briefing sheet for this. (1.02)

720 Video Recording on an Android device.

A very brief video showing how to set up 720 video on an Android phone using the One HW Camera app. This will allow students to record high-quality media whilst keeping the file sizes to a minimum. This can be useful when submitting video files to Canvas. This video is also available on My.Player HERE. Download a briefing sheet for this. (0.53)

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