A variety of small graded activities during the course gives the students in Astrophysics opportunities to practice and receive feedback on their performance. These activities contribute 25% of the final grade.
Assessment method | Final Assessment | Continuous assessment | Continuous assessment |
|---|---|---|---|
Percentage of grade | 75 | 15 | 10 |
When | After the course | Week 1-7 | Week 4-5 |
What | Final 3-hour written digital exam with open book and internet. | Smaller written assignments, multiple choice questions and problem solving in Blackboard Student-generated questions in PeerWise. | Group project with emphasis on innovative and multimodal communication. |
Why | To test students' ability to solve problems and to explain causal relations between objects in the Universe. | To practice problem solving skills, to motivate persistent work during the course and to give feedback on students' learning. | To practice skills such as communication, creativity and information search in an astrophysical setting. |
How | Students do the exam on their own computer through the digital exam platform. | Students do the activities in the Learning Management System Blackboard. There is a weekly deadline. | The project is done in groups of 1-4. It follows the 5E-model (engage, explore, explain, elaborate, evaluate). Some products are subsequently used in outreach activities. Grading criteria are know beforehand but format is free.
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Teaching activities | Students practice digital assignments as well as explanation and problem solving skills in the continuous assessment and at in exercise classes. | Students practice problem solving in exercise classes. All graded activities in the continuous assessment take place online. |
"The continuous assessment gives students motivation to work during the course. If activities were voluntary, a lot of students would not do them."
"It is important to work with meaningful learning activities during the course."
"Adding graded activities during the course gives students credit for working hard during the course and takes a bit of pressure off the final exam"
"With small activities during the course, we can test specific learning outcomes in specific topics. In the final exam students connect the different topics.”
”The first year with this form of assessment is the hardest as methods and some material can be reused."
"Some activities in the continuous assessment need grading. Some are graded automatically by Blackboard (e.g. multiple choice questions) whereas others need manual grading by the teacher or the teaching assistants. Feedback is given collectively or individually depending on the magnitude of the activity."
"The final exam has been shortened, so some time is saved on producing that and assessing it."
"By having graded activities during the course, the teacher (as well as the students) gets a continuous indication of student learning. This is useful in focusing activities on harder parts of the curriculum."
"The majority of students in this course actually prefer this kind of assessment and many appreciate the fact the teacher actually cares about optimising their learning."
