The Goal: Useful Tools for CBAF Authors

Computer-based assessment (CBA) offers many potential benefits to students and teachers, not least the possibility of providing instantaneous, precisely-targeted feedback to the test-taker. With the increasing availability and ease of use of CBA authoring tools (particularly through virtual learning environments), it is especially important to ensure that when CBA is used, it is applied in an educationally principled manner. Quite a few very useful CBA authoring resources exist that focus on, for example, construction of multiple-choice questions and/or on technical/logistical aspects of CBA. But few resources focus adequately on guiding the author in designing appropriate questions (especially those that are not MCQs), on combining these questions effectively, and/or on composing the feedback to accompany them. Still fewer existing resources recognise that even the best CBA may be of minimal use to the student unless it is appropriately interwoven within a course’s assessment regime.

The OLAAF project has addressed these deficits by developing and disseminating tools to support authors in the design, delivery and evaluation of CBA with feedback (CBAF). These Assessment Construction Resources reflect the scholarly approaches undertaken by the project participants (reported as OLAAF Case Studies) as well as findings from the latest literature on assessment for learning.

Our primary CBAF tool is TRIADS, a product of the Centre for Interactive Assessment Development (CIAD) at University of Derby. More information about TRIADS (and a demonstration of it) is available from the CIAD web site.

READ MORE about the rationale behind the OLAAF Project.