An error free exam period Achievable or out of the question? - Andreana Newson Associate Director Assessment and Progression - ATEM
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An error free exam period
Achievable or out of the question?
Andreana Newson
Associate Director Assessment and Progression
Swinburne University of Technology CRICOS 00111D
TOID 3059
Setting the scene Swinburne University of Technology 59,242 students ( 2017 figures) across Higher Education, Research and VET. Three campuses in Melbourne, One in Sarawak Malaysia.
The Pro Vice Chancellor Education and Quality His role and influence An error free exam period. The Swinburne Exams and Assessment leadership group
The Swinburne Assessment and Progression Team Assessment and Progression Areas of responsibility across the university Staffing and allocation of tasks
The Swinburne Exams Team Part of the Assessment and Progression team Areas of responsibility for staff members Exam periods managed each year Calendar of activities
It’s all about the dates 2018 Assessment Timeline (Higher Education) Semester 1 2018
The start of the exam journey Semester 1 2018 • It all starts with the Timeline • The E3 form • The submission of both Primary and Alternate papers for all units. (Only those units with less than 20 enrolments do not have to submit their alternate paper with the primary.)
Exam paper submission. ( Sem 1 2018: 348 examinable units) • Initial faculty checking and moderation • Department chair sign off • Student progress team check • Exam and Assessment team check • Printers for inspection quality • Final check for design and print quality
Any errors ??? • During the exam team viewing. 58 errors: ❖ Exam team correction 52 ❖ Convenor Correction 6 • Common errors fixed by the exam team: ❖ Missing headers and footers ❖ Incorrect information such as Unit Code or title ❖ Students instructed to complete the answer sheet but none provided • Convenor corrections: ❖ Poor quality graphics ❖ Primary and alternate exam the same ❖ Incorrect weighting of overall assessment ❖ Duration
After full printing run but before the exams begin • 26 errors ❖ Convenor Correction required 25 ❖ Printer Error 1 • Some of these include: significant paper errors requiring reprint, spelling mistakes and a multiple choice question where none of the options were correct
The exam period begins • Errors during the Semester 1 2018 exam period Errors 25 ❖Academic error 23. eg incorrect labelling of charts, repetition of questions and a multiple choice question with an option F which can’t be recorded on our Teleform sheets ❖Press/ printing error 2
Some of the errors we find
• Convenor checks the exam paper before the exam begins and finds
errors such as:
❖ Incorrect labelling of diagrams
❖ Incorrect data in questions
❖ Incorrect calculators on the cover sheet,
❖ Weighting of questions with marks not adding up
❖ Repetition of the same multiple choice question in a set of multiple
choice questionsWhat happens if there is an error during the exam period? • Expectations of our academics during the exam period • Business hours contacts • After Business hours contacts • If we can’t contact anyone • Ensuring that our external venue and Equitable Assessment Arrangements venue are all informed about any errors that occur and the outcome for the student sitting the paper.
Error analysis
Error analysis
Six monthly exam debrief meetings • Chaired by myself • Shared vision • Senior stakeholders from the university • All errors examined and discussed
Outcomes from the meeting • University wide policy review • Common reading time • The story of the calculators and the update of the cover sheet • The story of the dictionary • Follow up of convenors and moderators from the errors
The academic staff experience of exams • Issues with our timelines • Concern about all the paper work • the relationship with the Faculty Progress teams and the Exams team • Scheduling requests for the exam period. Not everyone can be on day one.
Developing our communication with stakeholders • Connections • Planning • Helping • Internal consultants
The Student experience of the exams. • We all know it doesn’t take much for a student to be stressed at exam time. • The smallest thing can get them off balance and impact on them doing their best in a stressful situation • We need to be able to remove these stresses as much as we can
What will it take to achieve an error free exam period? An understanding of all the parts of the exam process leading up to the examination day A common goal of attention to detail from both professional and academic staff Streamlined processes that make it as smooth as possible for papers to be developed, checked and submitted An understanding of the impact of errors during the exam periods on our student experience
Looking forward The future of exams at Swinburne
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