DCU Assessment Experience: Enhancing Student Success Through Assessment Design at Dublin City University (DCU)

About this initiative

Project Background

The DCU Assessment Design Project was conducted as part of the university’s response to SATLE 2020 funding. The strategic focus of the funding was Transforming Teaching and Learning for Student Success.

The project focused on enhancing student success through improvements to assessment design, with an emphasis on reviewing existing processes, implementing changes and providing continuing professional development (CPD) activities to enhance assessment quality across university programmes.

The transition to remote learning and assessment, alongside changes to assessment methods across numerous modules, highlighted the need to review assessment design processes, support mechanisms and quality assurance.

Feedback from students and staff identified additional stresses and pressures associated with the volume of assessment and feedback, as well as condensed assessment timelines.

In response, the project focused on reviewing assessment practices, supporting academic integrity and introducing technical enhancements to the university’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE).

Project Objectives

The overarching goal of the project was to examine existing assessment design processes, implement improvements and provide professional development opportunities to enhance the quality of assessment within university programmes.

The project was organised around two overlapping areas, supported by technical enhancements:

1. Programme-Focused Assessment: Reviewing assessment practices at programme level and promoting approaches such as e-portfolios to support assessment across modules.
2. Academic Integrity: Building awareness, encouraging shared responsibility and supporting conversations about academic integrity across the university.
3. Technical Enhancements: Improving VLE functionality to support assessment design, academic integrity, peer assessment, feedback and programme-level assessment planning.

Together, these activities aimed to support improvements in assessment practices and enhance student success.

Implementation

Reviewing Programme-Level Assessment

The project adopted the Transforming the Experience of Students Through Assessment (TESTA) approach to examine assessment practices at programme level.

TESTA encourages a programme-wide approach to assessment, supporting the alignment of assessment philosophies, broader assessment practices and opportunities for students to apply knowledge across modules.

Five programmes across four faculties were nominated to participate in the research.

The project involved assessment audits of these programmes, covering 2,890 students across different years of study.

An additional layer of data collection was introduced to the original TESTA framework through programme team focus groups.

Data collection activities included:

• Programme assessment audits across five programmes.
• Assessment experience questionnaires involving 2,890 students.
• Programme team focus groups involving 32 staff members.
• Three additional focus groups conducted as part of the data collection process.

The different stages of data collection informed one another, providing information to support the examination of programme-level assessment practices.

Promoting E-Portfolios in Assessment

Alongside the programme assessment audits, the project explored the use of e-portfolios as an assessment tool.

Staff interviews and discussions provided opportunities to promote e-portfolios as a means of supporting programme-level approaches to assessment.

These discussions contributed to the delivery of CPD sessions focused on e-portfolio use.

The project also supported the development of an e-book of case studies showcasing how e-portfolios were being used across DCU.

The e-book was made available through the university’s website and had been downloaded more than 200 times at the time of reporting.

Promoting Academic Integrity

The second major component of the project focused on academic integrity.

This work was influenced by the National Academic Integrity Network (NAIN) and built upon existing initiatives undertaken by DCU’s Teaching Enhancement Unit.

The aim was to build capacity, raise awareness of academic integrity among university stakeholders and encourage cultural and ethical change through shared responsibility.

A series of activities was organised, including a university-wide academic integrity awareness campaign, information sessions, staff and student panel discussions, and workshops for staff.

The first phase involved surveying university stakeholders to gather perspectives on academic integrity.

The reported student response rate was 3.3%, while the staff response rate was nearly 11%.

In the second phase, findings from the data analysis were shared with stakeholders across the university.

Eight targeted conversations were conducted with groups including students, Associate Deans for Teaching and Learning, Academic Council, the Quality Promotion Committee and faculty committees.

These discussions were intended to raise awareness and inform further engagement with stakeholders.

Four focus group discussions were also conducted, comprising two staff groups and two student groups.

Enhancing Moodle Quiz Functionality

The project introduced improvements to Moodle quiz functionality to make it easier for staff to create quizzes, statistically analyse student responses and share questions with other educators.

These improvements were developed through collaboration with eight universities across five countries.

The resulting enhancements were incorporated into core Moodle functionality, making them available beyond DCU.

Improving Peer and Group Assessment

The project enhanced Moodle’s peer assessment functionality and introduced additional features to support group assessment.

Two plugins were installed to improve peer assessment processes.

The Participation Credits plugin enabled lecturers to award marks to students for completing peer assessment tasks, providing an alternative to relying solely on Moodle’s existing assessment algorithm.

This was intended to make grading more transparent for both students and lecturers.

The Live Allocation plugin enabled students who submitted work after a deadline to have their submissions allocated for peer assessment.

Previously, students who missed the submission deadline could be excluded from the peer assessment process.

These enhancements were designed to make peer assessment more manageable for lecturers and provide greater flexibility for students.

Enhancing Video-Based Assessment and Feedback

In response to the increased use of video-based assessment, the project developed functionality enabling staff to provide annotated feedback directly on students’ video submissions within the VLE.

This allowed feedback on video assessments to be provided through the existing learning environment.

Strengthening Text Matching for E-Portfolio Submissions

The project also addressed a gap in the university’s text-matching processes.

Although assessments submitted through Moodle were automatically processed by text-matching software, this functionality had not extended to e-portfolio-based assessments.

Working in partnership with Catalyst UK, the project enhanced the Moodle plugin that integrated the university’s VLE with its e-portfolio platform.

Following this development, e-portfolio submissions made through Moodle could be automatically sent to the text-matching service, with similarity reports returned directly to Moodle.

This enhancement was intended to strengthen academic integrity within e-portfolio assessment.

Supporting Competency Self-Assessment

The project developed functionality enabling students to self-assess their competencies.

This development was intended to support curricular initiatives across DCU, including the integration of transversal skills into university programmes.

The functionality was also intended to be made available to Moodle users worldwide through the Moodle community network.

Improving Assessment Timeline Reporting

Building on an assessment timeline report developed through a SATLE 2019 project, additional enhancements were introduced to improve its functionality.

The report provided lecturers with a programme-level view of student assignments.

Further development of this functionality supported the continued use of assessment timeline reporting within DCU.

Results and Impact

Programme-Level Assessment Insights

The application of the TESTA approach across five programmes provided assessment data and feedback from students and staff.

Reports were produced at faculty and university levels, with the findings intended to inform future assessment practices and support improvements across DCU.

Increased Engagement with E-Portfolios

The project supported the promotion of e-portfolios through staff discussions, professional development sessions and a published collection of case studies.

The e-portfolio case study e-book was downloaded more than 200 times, demonstrating its use as a resource beyond the initial project activities.

Greater Awareness of Academic Integrity

The academic integrity component provided opportunities for students, staff and university committees to engage in discussions about academic integrity.

Activities included a university-wide awareness campaign, stakeholder surveys, eight targeted conversations and four focus groups.

These activities supported the project’s objective of promoting shared responsibility for academic integrity across the university.

Improvements to Assessment Technology

The project delivered a range of enhancements to assessment technology, including improved Moodle quiz functionality, peer and group assessment features, video annotation capabilities, competency self-assessment tools, e-portfolio text matching and assessment timeline reporting.

These developments expanded the assessment functionality available to DCU staff and students.

International Reach of Moodle Enhancements

The Moodle quiz improvements were developed in collaboration with eight universities across five countries.

The enhancements were incorporated into core Moodle, extending their availability to more than 100,000 Moodle instances worldwide.

Wider Availability of E-Portfolio Enhancements

The integration of text matching into e-portfolio submissions was intended to be made available to more than 1.6 million Mahara users worldwide.

This extended the potential reach of the project’s academic integrity developments beyond DCU.

Supporting Transversal Skills Development

The competency self-assessment functionality was identified as a development to support DCU students through the university’s transversal skills initiative.

The functionality was also intended to become available to Moodle users worldwide through the Moodle community network.

Sustainability

Sustainability was a central consideration in the project’s technical and assessment developments.

The inclusion of quiz improvements in core Moodle ensured that these enhancements would remain available beyond the project’s funding period.

The planned availability of e-portfolio text-matching functionality to Mahara users and competency self-assessment functionality to the wider Moodle community further extended the potential reach of the project.

Within DCU, the enhanced peer and group assessment functionality, assignment timeline reporting and video annotation capabilities were made available to university users beyond the lifetime of the project.

The TESTA reports produced at faculty and university levels were intended to inform future assessment practices and support continued improvements in assessment design.

Together, these developments provided ongoing resources and functionality to support assessment across the university.

Conclusion

The DCU Assessment Design Project addressed the need to review and enhance assessment practices following changes to teaching, learning and assessment arrangements.

Through programme-level assessment audits, the promotion of e-portfolios, academic integrity initiatives and technical enhancements to the VLE, the project supported improvements in assessment design and delivery.

The project examined assessment experiences across five programmes involving 2,890 students, engaged staff and students in academic integrity discussions, promoted e-portfolio use and introduced improvements to assessment technology.

Its technical developments included enhancements to Moodle quizzes, peer and group assessment, video feedback, text matching, competency self-assessment and programme-level assessment planning.

Several developments also extended beyond DCU, with Moodle quiz improvements incorporated into core Moodle and additional functionality intended for wider availability through the Moodle and Mahara communities.

The project established assessment resources, reporting capabilities and technical functionality intended to support continued improvements in assessment practices and student success beyond the funding period.