Please mummy, just one more go: an approach to the unconscious gamification in assessment

This experience report discusses innovative assessment methods in a module at the University of the West of Scotland. The method follows on from work described by Roberts (2006) in his paper "The Use of Multiple Choice Tests for Formative and Summative Assessment".

The soft skills component of any subject is always problematic to present to technically based students. In Computing, where topics such as professionalism, ethics and legislation are not only crucial for the students' careers but also integral to BCS accreditation, the challenges of covering these themes is fundamental to the success of multiple programmes.

In creating a new module to address these subjects multiple criteria were set including:
-maintaining student interest levels
-creation of materials suitable for delivery to large cohorts
-ability to be taught over multiple programmes and campuses -flexibility for close examination and discussion of the materials by the student
-covering the subject in just six weeks

To address these issues a blended delivery model was conceived. Extensive use would be made of features built into the VLE to encourage asynchronous study and discussion.

Radically different assessment methods were also piloted. Online multiple choice assessments were created that could be attempted as many times as required while the assessment was open. Gamification was introduced by allowing students to decide whether to accept their mark or to take another attempt. The written assessment component was peer marked using a random, anonymous method whereby three members of the cohort marked their peers' submissions.

181 students enrolled in the module at five geographically diverse campuses, taught by three different members of staff plus another three for tutorial support. In addition there was one purely online student.

Some lessons from this approach, including results and student and tutor reflections, are covered in this presentation.