When several thousand students are enrolled in a course simultaneously, it is impossible for course staff to individually assess all of them. MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) providers have come up with assessment techniques to cater for this major difference between on-campus and online courses. Assignments are either auto-checked or peer-assessed.

Auto-Checked Answers

With auto-checking, you will receive your results a few seconds after submitting your answers. Auto-checked quizzes and exams are usually open-book and may be untimed. They are often designed to test students’ understanding of the course materials, rather than simply recalling facts. Quizzes and exams are usually multiple-choice, with either a single correct answer or several correct answers.

Auto-checked answer types include:

• “Radio buttons” (round circles; if one is selected it will cause previous selections to un-select) for single correct answers.
• Checkboxes for multiple correct answers (square boxes that allow for multiple answers to be selected, although sometimes only one answer is correct).
• Drop down answers. A selection of possible answers are provided as a vertical list and the student has to click on one to choose it.
• Short answer-type questions need a word, number, phrase, sentence or paragraph to be typed in. The system checks for key words or numbers in the answer and allocates marks automatically. Pay very careful attention to the submission requirements, as sometimes extra unnecessary information can lead to an answer being marked wrong, even if it is correct. An example of something being marked wrong could be if the correct answer is “5 minutes” but the question (or the instruction at the start of the quiz) tells you not to use the units, just submit the number. If you type in the number “5” you will be marked right but if you submit “5 minutes,” it will be marked wrong.

Peer Assessments

While machine learning and other advances are making computers more clever, essays and programming code answers are still usually assessed by people. Students are asked to assess their peers’ answers. Course organisers write up a rubric to guide students on both the requirements for their own answer and also how to assess whether or not other students’ answers have fulfilled the requirements.

With peer assessments, it often takes several days or a week or so to receive your result. During the assessment period, you are required to assess a number of your classmates’ answers. Usually, you need to assess between three and five answers although most courses encourage you to do more. Assessing the answers of your peers can be very rewarding. It can give you an insight into how others think and approach the topic. You will encounter students from anywhere in the world, with related cultural and language differences.

Answers should be written in the language that the course is presented in. For instance, if you write an essay in Spanish or Chinese for a course presented in English, you can expect zero marks. Even if your written English is very poor, you would likely receive some marks by submitting your answer in English. Many course instructors encourage students to be generous in their interpretation of the requirements.

Peer assessments can be time-consuming but also provide an excellent learning opportunity. You learn while doing the assignment as well as when you assess work submitted by your fellow students. You can learn more about peer assessments here.

How Many Attempts?

You may only have one attempt at peer assessment assignments, although many programming courses (particularly those with Udacity) allow multiple attempts as you learn and master the programming code.

Different courses have different rules for quizzes and exams. They may be timed or untimed. You might be allowed only one attempt, two or three, or even unlimited attempts, although rules such as “maximum of three attempts per 24-hour period” may apply. Courses usually count your highest result rather than your most recent result.

Most Assessments are Open-Book

Most assessments for online courses are “open-book” for the simple reason that course providers generally have no way of checking if students are referring to the course materials while doing quizzes.

Even open-book tests can be challenging. You can find some strategies for test success here.

If a quiz or exam is not open-book the course instructions will make this clear. It is then up to you to abide by the rules. If you can’t pass a closed-book exam without cheating, do you really deserve that result?

Some platforms are developing proctoring software, particularly for students who want verified certificates. Participants do the exam with their webcam turned on, and their eye movements are studied to see if they appear to be referring to banned information during the exam.

A Final Thought

No matter what the type of assessment, if you put more concentration and effort into your answers, a better result is likely.

By Pat Bowden, published June 5, 2018.