Final assessment
We are striving to reduce on-campus exams and accelerate the transition to high value authentic assessments that accommodate disciplinary needs reflected in ‘real-world’ contexts. This will include diversifying final assessment types and reducing an overreliance on examinations.
Final examination types
There are three possible end of semester exam types:
- accredited invigilated exam on eAssessment platform or in class (including departmental run);
- fixed duration/time limited remote (scheduled off-campus) exam/final assessments, open-book exam eg 2 hr - eAssessment platform (or Moodle by exception);
- extended/long-form open book remote - 12 hr & upward - eAssessment platform (or Moodle by exception). Note - anything beyond 24 hours cannot be scheduled at this time and should include a due date that is suitable for the task.
On-campus and invigilated assessment will be scheduled based on:
- accreditation requirements with the external organisation;
- a unit in a sequence where identity verification is required at the course/sequence level;
- a justifiable pedagogical reason;
- practical/skill-based exams where equipment to undertake them are on campus (e.g. anatomy flag race, laboratory exam)
Choosing final assessment types
In the following section, answer questions about your current final assessment tasks to consider how they might be adapted or redesigned to meet your learning outcomes. As you answer these questions, you will move through the possible outcomes to best support your final assessment.
Adapting and designing take-home tasks for final assessment
Assessment is a fundamental element of student learning and allows you to evaluate student achievement of the learning outcomes for your unit (and/or the course). When adapting or designing assessment tasks as take-home open book or open note tasks, it is important to consider your assessment regime and what you will be assessing. Whether adapting an existing task or designing a new assessment, the same considerations need to be addressed. By making informed choices about task types, task conditions and academic integrity, take home assessment can be an effective way of supporting the assessment regime for a unit.
Five questions to consider
What is being assessed?
How will it be assessed?
What are the conditions to support assessment?
How is the assessment supported and scaffolded for students?
How should staff be supported?
Integrity considerations for take-home assessment
Academic integrity is a set of values and practices that require staff and students at Monash University to act with honesty, trust, fairness, respect and responsibility (TEQSA, 2021). Strong academic practices such as referencing, acknowledging the work of others and behaving with transparency in our work are key to maintaining academic integrity at Monash.
When designing take-home assessment, there are different choices that can be made in order to secure tasks against dishonest behaviour such as cheating and misconduct and support academic integrity.
Five questions to consider for academic integrity in your assessment design
What needs to be considered to support academic integrity?
Which question types support academic integrity?
Which task types support academic integrity?
What doesn’t support academic integrity?
How are academic breaches identified?
Planning for open book / open note assessments
This type of assessment allows access to online materials, notes and textbooks. The accessibility to materials can be restricted; however, without supervision, anything can be accessible. Working on the principle that anything can be used if appropriately referenced can therefore be a helpful strategy.
Setting up for open book assessments
Adapting questions for open book or take home assessment
Designing multiple choice questions for open book and take home assessment
Additional resources and further support
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Using ‘case-based’ questions in assessment (University of Melbourne)
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Considerations for moving to open-book examinations (Melbourne University)
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Guide to designing non-invigilated open book exams (University of Queensland)
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Keeping Students Engaged: How to Rethink Your Assessments Amidst the Shift to Online Learning (Faculty Focus)
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Designing open book exams (UCL)