Pedagogies of Digital Assessment

Claudia Rogers (Digital Education Service)

Project overview

The project was commissioned by the University to explore the educational implications of digital assessment. Taking a rigorous and research-informed approach, the project was designed to critically underpin the larger strategic change process towards assessment that’s fair, inclusive, authentic and ‘digital by default’.

I aimed to:

Explore how digital enhancement of assessment and the ‘digital by default’ assessment strategy is perceived and implemented from a teaching and learning perspective.
Use a person-centred, conversational, storytelling approach to examine how colleagues understand and experience digital assessment in their day-to-day work at Leeds.
Develop a shared understanding of digital assessment practice that interrogates the connection between lived experiences at Leeds and the wider pedagogic landscape.

I chose Listening Rooms as the main method for this project as it’s a really effective way to gather genuine, authentic perspectives (Heron, 2019).

A ‘Sharing Stories’ research poster, presented at the Association for the Assessment of Learning in Higher Education 2023 conference, New Orleans.

Figure 1: ‘Sharing Stories’ research poster, presented at the Association for the Assessment of Learning in Higher Education 2023 conference, New Orleans (download link at foot of page).

Key findings

Colleagues in the digital assessment space are already – knowingly or unknowingly –
using sound pedagogies to underpin their practice, with conversations about digital
literacies and student futures aligning strongly with Bearman et al’s organising
framework for designing assessment in a digital world (2022).

• Participants emphasised that colleagues would value and benefit from institutionally
provided support in identifying and developing knowledge about the opportunities,
considerations and unknowns presented by the (‘overwhelming’) variety of digital
assessment tools and software available.

• Participants debated the ‘digital by default’ strategic phrase. These conversations
underlined how the language wasn’t necessarily reflective of their pedagogy-led practice
or aligned to their student-centred values:

I suppose, I don’t think I’m digital by default. My first instinct is not to
think, oh, great, this digital thing, how can I use it? I think I normally am
thinking through my teaching and thinking, how can the tech or the digital
support what I’m planning to do?

When we’re talking about ‘default’, we know that default goes back to
things that are kind of socially normative...I worry about who’s excluded by
that...who’s excluded by this ‘default approach’ to get things being digital?

[Digital by default is] just this horrible conflation with remote isn’t it and
the fact that when we first came back from COVID every in-person exam
had to be justified…and that’s caused…all the antagonism.

• The barriers and challenges to achieving a fair and inclusive digital assessment as
identified by participants are well-cited in pedagogic literature (accessibility and the
digital divide), and action is called for to address these within the Leeds context.

• Participants were curious about the transformation of ‘analogue’, ‘manual’ or ‘physical
things’ into digital forms; critical questions about parity, transformation, ‘tactileness’
and ‘digitalness’ of different assessment artefacts played an important and valued part
in this conversation space.

Implications for practice

Recommendations for strategic stakeholders:

• Develop a central knowledge repository for digital assessment tools and software:
everything about digital assessment should be in one place and scaffolded with
increased staff training and ‘how to’/‘what tool to choose’ guidance. Selected quotes from listening room participants:

There are some good technologies around and digital tools, but I think the
university is behind in sharing information about these in a constructive
manner… You just come across this by chance.

I think everything needs to be in one place.

• Revise ‘digital by default’ language in assessment strategy.
• Support embedding choice and flexibility into assessment design: digital approaches
may not be suitable or justifiable for all cases of assessment.

• Increase digital assessment provision for students: provide equipment (especially laptop
loans) and dedicated space on campus to undertake digital assessments. Selected quote from listening room participant:

What burden is the university putting on its students in [digital
assessment] beyond simply learning and being assessed?

• Circulate clear and transparent communications to colleagues about digital assessment
investments.

Recommendations for colleagues considering digital approaches to assessment:
• Explore Bearman et al’s organising framework for designing assessment in a digital
world (2022) as a starting point for thinking about how to embed digital approaches into
assessment, or to surface good practices already taking place.

• Draw on existing communities of practice (for example, the Assessment Matters group)
to seek support for shared challenges and troubleshooting in digital assessment.

• Not sure who to contact about digital assessment? You could start by reaching out to
Learning Technologists in your Faculty Digital Enhancement Team!

Outputs

Sharing Stories’ research poster, presented at the Association for the Assessment of Learning in Higher Education conference (June 2023, New Orleans).

‘Jazzed about assessment: notes on equity and reflection from AALHE 2023’, Leeds Educators blog (September 2023).

If you want to find out more details about this fellowship or what the next steps were upon completion please read the full snapshot or contact Claudia (c.j.rogers@leeds.ac.uk)

Project start date: 1 September 2022