Are Assignments Not Submitted for Marking Accepted?

Currently I am a student in a post-graduate on-line course provided via the Moodle Learning Management System. I am very familiar with Moodle, but have never used the "Submit for Marking" option in the Assignment module. With this option the student can upload a draft, which the tutor can comment on, before the student submits the final version for marking. However, in this case the tutor has not indicated they are providing comments and I don;t know what happens if I forget to press "Submit for Marking" before the deadline. Is my assignment never marked, because it was never submitted, or is the latest draft considered to have been submitted at the deadline?

This may sound pedantic, but as a student I don't want to miss out on having my assignment marked. Also as this is an international course there is a very high risk of pressing "submit for marking" after the deadline and ether being penalised or not receiving any mark (exactly what the late policy is for the course I am doing is unclear, mine is to award no marks at all) .

What I do with my own courses is to not use "submit for marking" but allow multiple submissions. I ask the students to submit their assignment early and if they want comments to ask. After the deadline I mark the latest draft.

Role of Examiners Meetings

Recently I was asked about the assessment process by a lecturer who was uncomfortable with a rigid mechanical marking process, where students they though should pass had been failed for not getting the required 50% So I described the process I was used to taking part in at the end of each semester: the "examiners meeting", which I assumed every university used. Each examiner has to justify the grades of all their students to their peers. Usually the marks of the top students and those failing are looked at most closely. It is common for one of the meeting to ask to see the results for other courses for a student, if they think that student should not be failed on one course. Examiners are frequently sent off to review marks where they appear to be inconsistent.

Secrets of Perfect Student Feedback

One of the most common mistakes I see university lecturers make is to write too much feedback and then delay providing it to the student, to the point where it is no longer of use. If feedback is being given on weekly work, then it needs to be given that week, or at the latest the next week. Feedback on major assessment items needs to be given well before the student starts work on the next major assessment.

My course "ICT Sustainability" at the Australian National University received a top student feedback score last semester (5 out of 5). The students also rated the feedback they received during the course in support of learning at 5 out of 5.

One way a teacher can improve their student's learning is to think like an Intelligent Tutoring System (ITS). An ITS is a a computer program which provides prompt and individual feedback to students. Such a system keeps track of what each student is doing and how they are doing. The educator has to design exercises for the students, broken into detailed steps. They indicate not only what is the correct response at each step but the likely incorrect responses, so the can be programmed to steer the student back on track.

ITS can be useful where there is a set process for the student to learn. But it can result in a very process driven form of learning. Also ITS takes considerable resources to program.

But even without the use of ITS, any educational designer can consider how the learning task can be broken up and what are the desired responses from the student and likely mistakes they will make. The teacher can keep track of where each student is up to and provide timely feedback to each student.

Feedback accompanied by a mark is more likely to be read by the student (formative feedback accompanied by summative assessment). The mark doesn't need to be very large (one or two percent is enough to get a student's attention). The feedback only needs to be a sentence for two, or a few ticks on a standard table of responses (a rubric).
Feedback has to tell the student what they did wrong (preferably after telling them something they did right) and how they can do it better. Also there has to be the opportunity for the student to do better on a following assessable item.

There is no point in providing extensive feedback on a final assessment item for a course, which the student gets back after the course is over. All this does is to invite the student to appeal their final grade, as that is the only way for them to improve their assessment for the course.

Higher Education Whisperer on Assessment

For the second year running I received high student feedback scores for the course "ICT Sustainability" I designed and run at the Australian National University. Other lecturers have asked how I did this and for tips on improving their courses. I didn't think I was doing anything exceptional with course design or assessment. But then realized I had spent a year studying for a Graduate Certificate in Higher Education and four years refining on-line course design and delivery. In that time I guess I learned a thing or two. So I thought I would offer some tips on how to improve courses.

The title "Higher Education Whisperer" is inspired by Dr Inger Mewburn's "Thesis Whisperer" blog. The term whispering is from horse whispering: training based on a rapport with the animal, observing behavior and having respect. I have found the same applies to students: you need to see things from the student's point of view, look at what they actually do and treat them as people. A teacher who assumes their students are stupid, lazy and dishonest should not be surprised if they do not inspire effort from the students and get poor feedback scores.

The best way I have found to see things from the student's perspective is to enroll in a course. The obvious course to enroll in is one on teaching, where you can look at the research available on student behavior. It can be difficult for a teacher to come to terms with student behavior, even when confronted by the evidence. The most obvious case is with assessment. Assessment is very important to students, which should be obvious to teachers, but many design courses with assessment as an afterthought.

The first thing to look at to improve a course is the assessment. In a recent case I looked at the assessment for a course which was not popular with students. The first obvious problem was that there was a 60% final examination. Such examinations are very stressful for students (and for staff making them), not useful aid to learning and not an effective way to assess what students have learned. So I suggested reducing the exam to 30%.

Also I suggested moving more of the assessment to the first half of the course (up from 20% to 44%). Staff complain that students don't study until just before the final exam, but if you design the assessment that way, what can you expect? Increasing an early assignment from 7% to 20% provided more reward for the student's effort and the opportunity for this to be a learning exercise not just final assessment. For simplicity I suggested also increasing the second assignment from 13% to 20% to match the first.

The course already had 15% allocated for small weekly assessment items. This is a good way to keep students working and also having them pay attention to feedback provided (as it has a mark attached). But the assessment scheme confusingly had the top 10 of 12 items assessed. I suggested a simple sum of all 12 weeks, increased to 24% (2% per week).

Also it is important that students get their mark and feedback promptly each week for the previous week. This is particularly important early in a course so that students who are not doing well (or not doing anything) get the message: "Shape up or ship out".

The final suggested scheme was:

1. Weekly Work: 24% (+9%) 
2. Assignment 1: 20% (+13%)
3. Mid Semester Exam: 10% (+5%)
4. Assignment 2:20% (+7%)
5. Final Exam: 26% (-34%)

Obviously the assessment scheme could be revised further, but these changes should greatly reduce the stress on students (and on staff).

Another change is to make deadline firm. Teachers make the mistake of thinking if they provide "flexibility" with assessment it will be appreciated by students. But if you have rubbery deadlines you will cause confusion, stress and a perception of unfairness. If there is a deadline for an assignment, then make it firm: students who do not submit on time get zero marks. Obviously there needs to be provision for special circumstances, such as due to illness. But this should be exceptional, not routine.

Particularly when training professionals, on whom the lives of the community depends (such as doctors, engineers and computer programmers)  deadlines matter. A professional who does not learn to deliver work on time is a danger to the community.

ps: I will be speaking on "ICT trends in Education" at the Australian Computer Society in Canberra, 12 November 2013.