This presentation was given at the ASME Scientific Meeting which took place July 2015 in Edinburgh.

1. www.le.ac.uk
Delivering assessment through iPads: Initial
reflection on feasibility
Mark Hamilton, Laura Mongan, Terese Bird, Sarah Bulman, Alex
Thornber & Robert Norman
ASME Scientific Meeting July 2015 Edinburgh

3. Opportunities
• Next step of maximising
effectiveness of iPad-as-digital-
platform
• More interactive assessments
• Improved feedback experience
(NSS scores)

4. Pilot
• 2x written formative assessments
• Mixture of SBAs & SAQs
• Formative 1 (n=214) formative 2
(n=171)
• Lecture theatre venue
• Follow-up survey (n=105)

5. Resources
• ExamSoft software
– $50 per student/yr
• Students own devices (iPad 4th gen)
• Time for staff/student training

6. Strengths
• Easy to set up an exam
• All students completed the exams (using an iPad)
• Worked well in confined space with no wifi
• Detailed exam analytics + rationale given to students

8. Weaknesses
• Occasional glitches in software
• Around 2-3% required help
• Needed alternative iPad
• Some reports of questions ‘freezing’
• Delay in exam upload
“Guided
Access,
triple-click…”

9. Student feedback
……an end to the fairy tale?

10. I found the user interface of the SofTestM app during the exam to be easy to use.

11. Overall, compared to paper-based exams, how did you find the process of taking the
exam on the iPad?

12. I am comfortable with the prospect of taking end of semester assessments via iPad in
the future.

13. Feasibility
• Cost is acceptable
• Digital platform already exists
• Relatively few practical problems/user friendly
• Provides lots of exam data

14. Feasibility
• Winning hearts and minds
• User experience predominantly and
generously negative!
• General concerns over e-assessment

15. What now?
• Hope to use ExamSoft in a regular formative fashion
• Present student feedback back to students
• What else can we learn from this?
• Student ownership
• Revisit summative assessments in future