The Assessment Submission Required Process policy document states that all assessment must be submitted on the Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) unless given an exemption - i.e. for physical objects, and that all grades and feedback should be returned to students on the VLE (regardless of whether the submission process was exempt from online submission). 

We have a variety of technologies and assessment tools that can be used to enable the online submission of many formats, for example, essays, portfolios, scans of handwritten work, images, recordings of presentations/performances, blogs, and more. The assessment and feedback decision tree and the assessment and feedback pages on the CELT website will provide you with a full overview of what tools are available and will help you with identifying the most appropriate tool for your assessments. 

As outlined in the VLE baseline requirements, and in addition to assessment briefs, all assessments will need an assessment guidance video which outlines clear assessment expectations. This can be pre-recorded and uploaded to your blackboard module. There are several tools available that you can use to pre-record content, including Panopto and MS Teams. You can find out more about recording teaching in the ‘recording teaching’ area of this resource hub.

Digital tools can increase student access to formative and summative assessment, and important feedback. Whichever tools you are using to provide content, learning activities and assessment for your students, don’t forget that you need to make it as inclusive and accessible as possible. 

General guidance around inclusive practice is available on the CELT Website. The USW disability service provides further inclusive practice guidance for staff, including guidance for making necessary adjustments to assessments to support students with Individual Support Plans (ISPs).

All summative assessments should be accompanied by an assessment rubric. A rubric is marking grid that outlines expectations for an assignment, it provides a set of criteria and scoring scale that describes assignment quality. Rubrics can be shared with students prior to an assignment to help improve their understanding of the assignment criteria and can also be used to grade assignments as part of the feedback process. All relevant guidance and information about creating assessment rubrics can be found on the assessment lifecycle hub. There are several tools within the VLE that can help create your assessment rubrics. 

If you have any ideas, questions or you would like to find out more about online assessment and feedback, please contact the  Digitally Enabled Education (DEE) team who will be able to help.