Keuzetool Toetsen

With projects and products, students can apply what they have learned in an active and practical manner, and within set boundaries. This improves their understanding of the subject. Projects and products are suitable for assessing whether a student can create and apply, analyse and evaluate knowledge.

However, projects and products are less suitable for assessing whether a student has a broad knowledge base. In practice, projects and products are often combined with other types of assessment that are more suited to this, such as exams with open-ended and/or closed-ended questions. It may not always be necessary to test a student’s broad knowledge base separately, for example if it was assessed in a previous course, or if it was sufficiently addressed as part of the project/product.

A project or product is often combined with an oral exam or presentation.

With a project or product, a student carries out a clearly-defined assignment. Projects often result in a product such as an analysis, recommendation, design, final product or essay:

*Analysis The student analyses a situation, …

With a project or product, a student carries out a clearly-defined assignment. Projects often result in a product such as an analysis, recommendation, design, final product or essay:

*Analysis The student analyses a situation, problem or issue, separating the main issues from the side issues and/or identifying the advantages and disadvantages. *Recommendation A recommendation is often the result of an analysis. The student collates information from various sources to come up with a recommendation and a possible solution. *Design A design is a description or visualisation of a future reality. *Final product A final product can be physical or digital and can be put to actual use. *Essay An essay is a text in which the student gives a substantiated opinion on a particular subject. The student therefore learns to think critically about a subject. Short essay questions can also be given as part of an online exam.

These products can of course be combined. For example, a research report combines analysis, an essay and a recommendation.

Students often submit their work digitally through a learning management system (LMS), which makes it easy to assess the work online. In the case of a physical product, the student can make a video recording or demonstrate it in a live stream.

Advantages and disadvantages

The online assessment of projects and products does not differ very much from on-campus assessment.

A physical final product may not come over as well in an online setting, but this depends on how well the student is able to convey the relevant details.

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Preparation

The preparation required for online projects and products does not differ very much from that required in ‘regular’ education. You first need to identify which learning objectives are to be achieved by the student. You then design an assignment that ensures that the students can demonstrate that they have achieved these objectives, for example in the form of products. You also set the boundaries within which the project or product must be completed.

It is important that these boundaries, such as the assessment criteria/rubric, feedback moments and submission date, are clearly communicated to the student. It is also a good idea to discuss a few examples of completed projects or products with the students.

Some students find it difficult to start a new project and may suffer from procrastination. You can help these students by setting milestones (e.g. the introduction must be completed by Week 2). It also helps if you reward the student for sticking to the project schedule, for example by planning feedback moments as milestones.

Make sure that the students have a certain amount of freedom within these boundaries; for example, let them choose from a selection of subjects, the form that their product will take, or the resources that they use. You could also make the project/product a group assignment, so that they interact more with each other and perhaps achieve something that would not have been possible individually.

During

Online supervision of projects makes it difficult for lecturers to have a good overview of the progress being made, of the product or of the students’ thought processes. In the case of a group project, you miss important information about the relationships within the group. It is therefore important to plan times when you are available for the students (e.g. Q&A sessions) and to actively keep in touch with the students.

Students do not just learn from the lecturer, but also by discussing the project or product with each other. As the lecturer, you can encourage this by implementing peer feedback tools that the students can use to give each other feedback. See this brochure by Inholland (in Dutch) for more information on organising peer feedback.

Afterwards

What do students do with the feedback that you give them in the end-of-project assessment? To make sure that your feedback has an effect, you could consider a reflective assignment. For example, have the students briefly reflect on the learning objectives or on your feedback on their project or product. In later projects or products, you could also have the students reflect on the previous feedback and ask how they plan to incorporate this into the new project or product.

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Organise an online peer feedback session well before the submission date for the final draft version of a project/product. Using the assessment form, the students can give each other feedback on their products. This saves you time, as many common mistakes will be picked up and solved by the students.

*Facilitate and encourage self-management in students as they work on a project. For example, have students set themselves personal goals in their project and let them reflect on these goals. *Before providing feedback on a project or product, you could first organise a peer feedback session. Make sure that the students have a copy of the assessment form and let them give each other feedback based on the form. The students learn a lot about their own performance through peer feedback, improve their capacity for self-reflection and inspire each other. See this brochure by Inholland (in Dutch) for more information on organising peer feedback. *It also helps to motivate students if they carry out projects and products for clients outside the university setting. This also helps them to develop general interdisciplinary skills. *For more inspiration on written assignments, take a look at this information page from the VU. *Students can cheat on written assignments by copying text from previous students or from the internet. You should therefore use anti-plagiarism software. A wider variety of projects and products also makes it more difficult for students to copy each other’s work. If you do use a list of subjects for students to choose from, make sure to update it regularly. *Ask the students to indicate which aspects of their project/product they would most like to receive feedback on, as this encourages their capacity for self-management. Of course, as the examiner you may also choose to provide feedback on other aspects. *Ask the students to submit a self-assessment based on the assessment form as part of their project or product, so that they learn to reflect on their own work. If you also ask them to indicate where the information can be found relating to each assessment criterion (e.g. by referring to the relevant section of the report), you can save yourself some marking time. *In a group assignment, some students may contribute more to the group process than others. It is usually best to have students agree on the quality of their work at the start, and to remind them of this as they go along, as this can help to prevent any problems. You can also organise the assignment so that students are reliant on each other, but this can be difficult. *One pitfall with group assignments is that the students compensate for each other’s weaknesses. However, this does not have to be a problem, as it also applies to the ‘real’ world. It is however something to keep in mind when deciding whether to set an individual or group assignment, and when incorporating the learning objectives into the assignment. *For students with a learning difficulty such as ADD or ADHD, it is very important to make sure that expectations and submission deadlines are communicated clearly. We suggest that these students are asked to submit interim products, so that they have a clear idea of their progress.

VU guidelines on variations on written assignments.
Toetsen in het hogeronderwijs (Assessment in higher education, in Dutch) (Van Berkel, Bax, and Joosten-ten Brinke 2017), about the importance of feedback in the learning …

VU guidelines on variations on written assignments.
Toetsen in het hogeronderwijs (Assessment in higher education, in Dutch) (Van Berkel, Bax, and Joosten-ten Brinke 2017), about the importance of feedback in the learning process.
Toetswijzer competentiegericht begeleiden & beoordelen in het hoger onderwijs (Assessment guidelines, competence-focused supervision and assessment in higher education, in Dutch). Fontys facilities company, department of education: Centre for education innovation and research.
Peer assessment als leermiddel. Voorbeelden uit het hoger onderwijs (Peer assessment as educational resource, examples from higher education (in Dutch)). (Van den Berg, Pilot, and Admiraal 2005).
Projectonderwijs als innovatie in het hoger onderwijs (Project education as innovation in higher education, in Dutch) (Van Woerden 1985).

Bibliography

Van Berkel, Henk, Anneke Bax, and Desirée Joosten-ten Brinke. 2017. Toetsen in Het Hoger Onderwijs. Springer.

Van den Berg, I, Albert Pilot, and Wilfried Admiraal. 2005. Peer Assessment Als Leermiddel. Voorbeelden Uit Het Hoger Onderwijs. IVLOS, Universiteit Utrecht.

Van Woerden, WM. 1985. “Projectonderwijs Als Innovatie in Het Hoger Onderwijs.” Pedagogische Studien.

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