iCMAs for formative assessment in beginners’ languages modules

Published on 2023-10-19 - 11:43 by OUSE Repository Admin

The implementation of iCMAs at the Department of Languages offers an excellent opportunity to carry out a large‐scale evaluation of how iCMAs impact students’ learning, particularly in relation to motivation, engagement, retention and attainment. Quantitative and qualitative data will be gathered (including interviews and eye tracking) to understand students’ use of iCMAs. Working with a small number of tutors, we will also explore how they might use iCMA results to better support their students. The results will help us improve the students’ experience of using iCMAs, and facilitate the further embedding of iCMAs into language teaching and learning.

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Project lead(s)

Anna Comas-Quinn

Project start date

2014-01-27

Project end date

2014-10-16

Institutional priority category

Other

Project findings and recommendations

A better understanding of iCMA usage by students has resulted from this investigation, including: 1. Students claim to make several attempts at iCMAs although the VLE data contradicts this. 2. A substantial proportion of students submit the iCMAs at the end of the module, using them to fulfil a module requirement instead of as a learning tool as they are intended (being formative). 3. There is an indication that late completion of iCMAs correlates with poor performance on the module (it follows that non-submission of iCMAs at the scheduled time can be used as an early warning of students at risk of performing poorly). 4. Students claim to enjoy iCMAs and to use them to check on knowledge and highlight areas of weakness (but see 1 and 2 above); the small number of students interviewed also highlighted the motivating effect of receiving immediate feedback. 5. Students would like feedback to be more specific and to cross-reference more closely to module materials. 6. Students like the idea of being alerted if they have not submitted iCMAs. As a result of this study the following actions are being implemented: 1. Sharing good practice on quality of iCMA feedback within the Department. 2. Providing a transcript feature for listening iCMAs. 3. Introducing an individualised alert system linked to the Study Planner for those who fail to submit iCMAs. 4. Changing the configuration of the gradebook to make it easier for tutors to see their students’ progress with iCMA submission and identify those who don’t submit on time as potentially at risk.Reinforce the message in the Study Guide and Assessment Guide that formative assessment iCMAs are part of the learning process.