Assessment and quality assurance

Traditional exams under tightly invigilated conditions are highly stressful for students, but online alternatives bring their own issues, says Michael Priestley

Academics should drop the holier-than-thou attitude and look at cheating from a student’s perspective if we want to understand and eradicate it, says Hamish Binns

The essay mills industry is booming in response to student demand. Irene Glendinning explains how universities must respond with a range of actions, not one quick fix

Four higher education professionals discuss what universities and faculty can, or should, do to ensure a top quality digital teaching across their institutions

The switch online has brought renewed scrutiny of misconduct, but without adequate resources, the real losers are our students, says Amanda White

There’s much interest in how many times students access the VLE or complete online tasks, but that only provides part of the picture, says Linda Kaye

Universities should lead by example on sustainability issues, looking at what they can do to shrink their environmental impact. Here, Ling Xia and Yao Wu outline a project that could herald a major reduction in their institution’s paper consumption

Time saved by lecturers on marking assignments could indeed be used to enrich teaching, but unfortunately many silver linings have a cloud, says Harin Sellahewa

Students are often reticent to speak up in front of large groups online, but when offered anonymous ways to share thoughts and feedback, most are keen to participate. Christina Stanley explains how to put this to good use

There is nothing ideologically neutral about grades, and nothing ideologically neutral about the idea we can neatly and tidily do away with them, says Jesse Stommel

Sarah Montano offers insight on redesigning assessment in the digital space to test the skills students will need in their future careers

Paul Moss explains how to structure online courses to build students’ knowledge methodically towards set learning outcomes and skills that should themselves be used to shape assessment

David Nicol explains how students can be guided to make comparisons and feedback on their own work, rather than relying on instructor comments, for improved learning outcomes

Traditional exams can inhibit students, while more creative assessments provide a forum where their talent and knowledge can shine. Madeleine Davies discusses a technique to offer creative assessments online

Sparking creativity among students learning remotely via a screen can be challenging, so Constanza Pacher offers advice for shaking up ideas up via online media

Online teaching has forced a major rethink of exams, so how can academics ensure they make the new-style assessments accessible and relevant to all students? Kimberly Wilder-Davis explains

How can universities monitor and guarantee the quality of their online courses? Here Geo Laws talks about how establish a robust quality framework for online teaching

Jennifer Lawrence explains how to use small-scale data analytics to monitor student progress and improve digital teaching delivery

Instructors can minimise the opportunity for academic misconduct through careful online assessment design. Sarah Eaton shares five approaches to online assessment that promote academic integrity

Traditional proctored exams rarely work when teaching online so instructors must rely on careful assessment design to minimise the risk of cheating, explain Patrick Harte and Fawad Khaleel

The move to online learning has seen a big increase in academic misconduct such as plagiarism. Camilla Roberts explains how careful planning of online teaching and assessment can minimise cheating

Hear about some tried and tested methods for effective assessment of written work when teaching online from Sara Clarke and Katy Dumelle of Oregon State University

Authentic assessment is one of the biggest challenges associated with online teaching and learning. Here Katherine Baverstock explains why negotiated assessment engages remote students and lowers the risk of cheating

Penny Ralston-Berg, senior instructional designer at Penn State World Campus, discusses how to ensure quality in digital teaching and learning