Simon Walker, Steve Rowett (contributions from Eliot Hoving, Joanne Moles, Sabina Lamstaes) (VP Education/Arena/DigiEd)
45 minute discussion
2020 has accelerated the pace of educational change, some of which will persist. Whilst moving assessment online was a response to an emergency, evaluation demonstrated both benefits and challenges.
In April 2020, UCL embarked on an initiative to procure a dedicated digital assessment platform capable of supporting a wide range of assessments and exams taken by UCL students. A specification for the end-to-end assessment process was drawn up and around 20 products were considered.
A robust and relatively mature platform was procured, and AssessmentUCL (an umbrella term for digital assessment and exams) was launched and immediately road-tested with students.
We discuss:
- Is the genie finally out of the bottle – is digital assessment the last frontier of higher education?
- Will it disrupt our thinking of assessment and feedback and offer more authentic assessments that mirror real-world tasks?
- What risks might this new frontier hold for the academy?