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Why Assessment Format Matters

Why Assessment Format Matters. Philip Hedges Department of Economics & Quantitative Methods Westminster Business School University of Westminster UK. Aims. To present an analysis of coursework performance and the influence of two independent variables:

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Why Assessment Format Matters

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  1. Why Assessment Format Matters Philip Hedges Department of Economics & Quantitative Methods Westminster Business School University of Westminster UK

  2. Aims • To present an analysis of coursework performance and the influence of two independent variables: 1) the learner’s mode of study 2) the learner’s nationality status • Casual empiricism suggests that part-time and home/EU students have an advantage over full-time and overseas students – based partly on this the decision was made to alter the coursework format for the 2014/15 academic year • To quantify the influence of the student’s study mode and nationality on performance, and examine the stability of their influence when an assessment format changes

  3. Format of Original Coursework Assessment • Context: Core PG module for MA HRM students hosted by Economics dept. – original assessment pattern: 50% in-module coursework, 50% end-of-module exam • Original coursework assessment format: 2,500 words STEEPLE analysis report of a certain market or self-selected markets for students with HR experience • The original coursework format was designed to be student-centred, useful, engaging and differentiated according to student characteristics • The brief was set at the beginning of the module and reports were due to be submitted in week 7 of 12 teaching weeks

  4. Problems with the Original Format • Original coursework format was satisfactory but a number of issues became apparent: • a) Marking & moderation of reports on this large PG module slowed down the feedback process (3-4 weeks) • b) Coverage of the module’s content – not all students used Economics concepts & principles in the report • c) Differences in differentiated learners’ access to info. etc. seemed to have led to different levels of achievement between Part-Time/Home/EU and Full-time/Overseas students

  5. Distribution of Learner Characteristics: 2010/11 - 2014/15, N = 610

  6. Coursework Mean Marks (%)by Mode of Study 2010-11 to 2013-14

  7. Coursework Mean Marks (%) by Nationality 2010-11 to 2013-14

  8. Opportunity for Change • The module had to be reviewed internally & externally during Spring 2014 as part of a university course revalidation & accrediting body review by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development • This presented an opportunity to reflect on the assessment strategy with a focus on altering the coursework format • The new format would hopefully reduce problems a), b) and c) associated with the original format

  9. Solution: New Coursework Format • The STEEPLE report was replaced by an in-class test based on the first 5 weeks’ Economics material • The first iteration of the test (for 2014-15) was exclusively multiple-choice based and students were given 1 hour 15 minutes to complete 15 questions each worth between 1 and 6 marks • Students were issued with 2 mock in-class tests & answers between weeks 1 & 5 , given a reading week to revise in week 6 and took the real test in week 7

  10. Results: 2 out of 3 Problems Solved • The in-class test was double-marked and given back to students in week 9 (2 weeks faster turnaround!) • For the first time in the coursework for this module most students displayed a good level of familiarity with Economics principles and concepts • Marks were higher than with the original report format with no increase or decrease in the coursework mean differences across the different characteristics • Therefore, for problems a) and b) the change in assessment feedback was successful – the difference in means across certain characteristics may be insurmountable?

  11. Coursework Means (%) by Mode of Study: 2010-11 to 2013-14 and 2014-15

  12. Coursework Means (%) by Nationality: 2010-11 to 2013-14 and 2014-15 7 percentage points difference

  13. Unintended Outcomes: Student Feedback • Compared with the 2013-14 cohort the 2014-15 students facing the new assessment format gave much higher ratings on the module evaluation survey: • The response rate to the survey increased from 29% to 56% - plus unsolicited positive remarks concerning the utility of the Economicsdiscipline for HRM PGs

  14. Quantifying the Significance and Influence of Study Mode & Nationality • The data permits the estimation of the sign, strength and significance of the two independent characteristics on learner performance • For each cohort coursework marks were regressed on study mode and nationality – then repeated for all cohorts using time dummies • “Before” and “after” regressions allow us to see if study mode and/or nationality effects are independent of assessment format

  15. Coursework Marks Regression Results Baseline for regressions (1) to (5) = Full-Time International students for each cohort from 2010-11 to 2014-15 Baseline for regression (6) on 4 cohorts uses the same baseline as (1) to (5) but for 2013-14 students Baseline for regression (7) on 5 cohorts uses the same baseline as (1) to (5) but for 2014-15 students Standard errors in parentheses; * p < 0.1, ** p < 0.05, *** p < 0.01

  16. Interpretation of Regression Results • “Before” regressions (1) to (4) for each annual cohort (writing reports) suggest that mode of study is not significant in explaining coursework marks; nationality is significant and Home/EU learners outperform their Overseas peers – according to the pooled “before” regression (6) this is worth an additional 6.6 percentage points (which rises to 7 points when study mode is omitted) • The “after” regression (5) for the 2014-15 cohort suggests that study mode and nationality are no longer significant (though nationality is only marginally insignificant at the 10% level) – the format change has had some effect in terms of problem c) • The pooled “before & after” regression (7) suggests that nationality is a significant variable in explaining coursework performance though this sample is limited to 19% coming from after the format change (i.e. 81% of observations are before the format change)

  17. Future Directions • The first year’s experience of the new format suggests that the statistical influence of nationality has weakened despite the persistent difference in mean mark between Home/EU and Overseas students • Control variables for gender, age and UG degree classification may weaken the significance of nationality • The influence of mode of study and nationality on exam performance is yet to be modelled • The new coursework format increased total module marks so much that the module exceeded our KPI mean mark ceiling – possible change in the test to include open questions and reducing the time allowed to complete the test

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