Authentic individualised assessment for academic integrity and improved understanding of first year biochemistry
Author(s)
Love, Christopher
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2018
Metadata
Show full item recordAbstract
The vast array of information accessible on the internet makes it impossible to use assessment for assignments that comes directly from text books. Combined with the increasing number of websites offering to complete assignments for a price, adds further difficulty of designing authentic assessment in large first year setting. Even when original problem-based assignments were designed it is impossible to prevent students from copying the answers from classmates? This has been addressed by designing a personalised assessment task for first year biochemistry with approximately 350 students. Originally, one assignment required ...
View more >The vast array of information accessible on the internet makes it impossible to use assessment for assignments that comes directly from text books. Combined with the increasing number of websites offering to complete assignments for a price, adds further difficulty of designing authentic assessment in large first year setting. Even when original problem-based assignments were designed it is impossible to prevent students from copying the answers from classmates? This has been addressed by designing a personalised assessment task for first year biochemistry with approximately 350 students. Originally, one assignment required students to calculate the charge on a given peptide at different pH values, draw a titration curve and determine the pI of the peptide. It was observed that many of the students copied their assignments from others, and a large proportion of the class were unable to complete this task on the final exam for the course. In order to overcome this issue and improve student understanding of the concepts around peptides, pH and pI, students were required to derive their personalised peptide from the first 6 letters of their name that corresponded to amino acid one letter codes. This immediately prevented students from copying from one another, and if they collaboratively on the assessment the learning experience could be enhanced for both parties. Thus, developing authentic individualised, problem-based assessment provides an element of academic integrity whilst promoting critical thinking skills essential for all STEM students. I am currently analysing data from the final exams before and after moving to the personalised assignment to determine with there has in fact been an increase in student performance.
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View more >The vast array of information accessible on the internet makes it impossible to use assessment for assignments that comes directly from text books. Combined with the increasing number of websites offering to complete assignments for a price, adds further difficulty of designing authentic assessment in large first year setting. Even when original problem-based assignments were designed it is impossible to prevent students from copying the answers from classmates? This has been addressed by designing a personalised assessment task for first year biochemistry with approximately 350 students. Originally, one assignment required students to calculate the charge on a given peptide at different pH values, draw a titration curve and determine the pI of the peptide. It was observed that many of the students copied their assignments from others, and a large proportion of the class were unable to complete this task on the final exam for the course. In order to overcome this issue and improve student understanding of the concepts around peptides, pH and pI, students were required to derive their personalised peptide from the first 6 letters of their name that corresponded to amino acid one letter codes. This immediately prevented students from copying from one another, and if they collaboratively on the assessment the learning experience could be enhanced for both parties. Thus, developing authentic individualised, problem-based assessment provides an element of academic integrity whilst promoting critical thinking skills essential for all STEM students. I am currently analysing data from the final exams before and after moving to the personalised assignment to determine with there has in fact been an increase in student performance.
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Conference Title
Horizons in STEM Higher Education Conference 2018: Making Connections, Innovating and Sharing Pedagogy
Subject
Curriculum and pedagogy
Learning sciences