Results of a survey on the characteristics of essay-type assignments and the uptake of e-learning tools

Eva Heinrich and Jun Zhang
Massey University

Keywords: assignments; technology; higher order learning

Essay-type assignments form an essential component of the internal assessment in higher education. They are supply items that afford the learner freedom in structuring and formulating their submissions and are an important tool in targeting the higher levels of Bloom's taxonomy. Because of their intellectual complexity and their individuality essay-type assignments have to be marked and commented on by human markers. Commonly, essay-type assignments are used for both summative and formative assessment.

ICT or e-learning technologies can be used effectively for supporting essay-type assignments. While the actual understanding, marking and commenting on these assignments is not possible with today's technologies, the strengths of computer systems can be used for assignment management and in support of the marking process. An increasing number of tools and e-learning approaches are available that handle submission, bookkeeping and return, integrate scoring rubrics, feedback and essays, and facilitate communication among learners, markers and peers. Use of these systems will not only decrease the time spent on administrative chores but has the potential of improving the quality of the marking and of facilitating innovative learning designs.

Unfortunately, the uptake of these technologies is not as high as could be expected. Reasons established in the literature are a lack of familiarity among academics and students with the technologies and the insufficient level of institutional support. In the presentation we will highlight findings from the literature and report on a survey undertaken at our university. This survey matched the sentiments given in the literature. It provides an insight into the levels of knowledge and use of the technologies, the characteristics of essay-type assignments, the current assignment management and marking processes and the attitudes of academics towards the use of technology in this area. We will conclude with recommendations for increasing the uptake of technologies in support of essay-type assignments.