Author: Simon Wilkinson, simon.wilkinson@nottingham.ac.uk

Author: Heather Rai, heather.rai@nottingham.ac.uk

JISC e-Learning Activity Area: e-Assessment

Higher Education Academy Subject Centre: Medicine, Dentistry and Veterinary Medicine

This case study illustrates...use of specialist software, an effect on learning, an effect on exam results, an effect on student personal development, student satisfaction with e-learning, innovation in learning and teaching, an influence on educational research, staff satisfaction with e-learning, staff personal development, a positive effect on retention, an influence on policy, use of resources, modifications to learning spaces, management of learning assets, an effect on social equality

Technology Used

What technologies and/or e-tools were available to you?

The University of Nottingham has been utilising some form of online assessment since the early 1990's. A large question bank was written firstly in Authorware and then in a web-based system developed in 1999 under the TLTP3-86 project. In 2003 the Medical School began development of a next-generation system called TouchStone. By 2004 the question bank had been fully transferred into this new assessment platform. At an institutional level there was no overall steer regarding computer-based assessment. Some departments used Question Mark Perception, others Test Pilot and others just the assessment capabilities build into WebCT or BlackBoard. Very few departments were utilising these online assessment systems for high-stakes summative assessment. With no clear lead, large question banks already in place and good staff/student familiarity, TouchStone was the platform chosen to support a computer-based assessment approach within the Medical School.