XClose

Teaching & Learning

Home
Menu

AssessmentUCL project

Delivering an end-to-end digital assessment delivery platform to support the UCL assessment journey.

Three staff members in conversation

On this page:


Project vision and benefits

Established in 2020, the Digital Assessment project aimed to provide a comprehensive digital platform for delivering online assessments. The project involved collaboration between Academic Services, Arena, Information Services, and academic and administrative members from various faculties.

Since then, AssessmentUCL using the Wiseflow platform, has successfully delivered over 2,000 assessments to more than 100,000 candidates and is now the primary platform for centrally-managed remote assessments and some departmental assessments. The platform offers several advantages, such as an improved student experience, diverse assessment options, and automatic uploading of student marks to Portico. However, there is still room for improvement, and we are actively working to enhance the user experience and identify areas for improvement in collaboration with stakeholders 


UCL assessment journey

A map of the high-level journey for summative assessments was used as reference point for developing the digital assessment platform. The map sets out an objective definition of each stage of the assessment journey – from creation and design, through student participation and submission, to marking, moderation, external examining, providing feedback and recording and release of marks. 

It includes practical pedagogic and administrative steps to highlight where policy, process and/or technology influence, disrupt or hinder the assessment journey and where significant variations in policy and practice exist. 

Mapping the assessment process in this way highlights the co-dependencies at different stages of the journey that can make a difference to student and staff experience. 

    Return to top

     


    How your Digital Assesment Advisor can help

    In recognition of the scale of change for faculties, we have appointed a Digital Assessment Team which includes dedicated Digital Assessment Advisors (DAA). DAAs work with departments and faculties to understand their assessment requirements, determine the most appropriate assessment type and advise on how to correctly set up assessments to get the most from AssessmentUCL platform and other UCL tools.

    If you would like to find out more, please email the  ISD.Digital Assessment Advisory inbox with your query. The Digital Assessment Team have a team blog to share updates and areas of work.

    Return to top

     


    Support for AssessmentUCL

    The Digital Assessment Team have outlined support processes for users of AssessmentUCL.

    • Staff support during an AssessmentUCL assessment – this page includes a link to the staff query form which asks for additional information on the assessment and module affected. This information will help the Digital Assessment Team and the Digital Education Support Analysts (DESAs) diagnose and rectify issues more quickly.
    • Student support during your assessment – this page includes a link to the Assessment Query Form, which is used by students for any technical failures that happen during an assessment.

    Return to top

     


    Town halls and FAQs

      Past Town Hall Meetings

      Brief update on the AssessmentUCL project, including next steps, February 2021
      • Q&A on the 2021 exam process from submission of exams through to marking and moderation.
      • Panel: Derfel Owen, Joanne Moles, Steve Rowett.
      • Recording [UCL login required]
      Assessment Operating Model, 2021-22, October 2021 
      • About: An update and Q&A on the revised academic regulations for this year's assessment operating model. 
      • Panel: Joanne Moles (Head of Assessment Delivery & Platforms, Academic Services), Lizzie Vinton (Academic Regulations Manager, Academic Services), Prof Simon Walker (Academic Lead, Arena Centre) and Anisa Patel (Head of Digital Assessment, Digital Education).
      • Recording [UCL login required]
      Introduction to the Digital Assessment Delivery Project, November 2021

      Frequently asked questions (FAQs)

      What is the governance structure for the project?

      Digital Assessment Project Board

      Accountable for the delivery of the project. Provide direction for the project and resolve issues and blockers.

      Project Team

      Carry out the day to day project task activities to deliver the project.

      Digital Assessment Delivery working group

      Feed into the future processes and implementation plans; support two-way communication between faculties and the project team; advise on training activities and plans; support go-live activities.

      What was the purpose of the Digital Assessment Project working group?

      To inform our planning we have established an academic steering group drawn from our community of Exam Board Chairs, and a ‘Digital Assessment Delivery Working Group’ comprising professional services and academic staff from across UCL’s Faculties. These groups will help to review our plans and to continuously shape our future requirements for the platform.

      Membership  

      • Academic representatives from each faculty
      • Administrative representatives from each faculty
      • Faculty learning technology leads
      • Student union representatives
      • Members of the project team

      The purpose of the group is to:

      • Input into the design of processes and policies;
      • Support change activities to ensure faculty staff are ready for go-live;
      • Cascade communications provided by the project team to faculties;
      • Provide faculty feedback to the project team;
      • Advise on and support engagement activities across faculties such as workshops, demos, lunch & learns and townhalls;
      • Advise on training plans and activities;
      • Support go-live activities;
      • Become a super-user (potentially a subset of the group) and provide additional support and guidance to faculties. 

       

      Who is on the Digital Assessment Delivery project group?

      Name

      School

      Faculty

      Prof Aeli Roberts

      BEAMS

      Bartlett

      Jenny Post

      BEAMS

      Bartlett

      Samantha Ahern

      BEAMS

      Bartlett

      Dean Barratt

      BEAMS

      Engineering

      Anna Trostnikova

      BEAMS

      Engineering

      Marrietta Bamidi

      BEAMS

      Engineering

      Dr Richard Osborne

      BEAMS

      MAPS

      Jadranka Butorac

      BEAMS

      MAPS

      Sukh Thiara

      BEAMS

      MAPS

      Dr Russell Evans

      BEAMS

      MAPS

      Dr Simon Harden

      BEAMS

      MAPS

      Tim Neumann

      IOE

      IOE & Laws

      Noreen Kassem

      IOE

      IOE

      Jo Pearce

      IOE

      IOE

      Prof Norbert Pachler

      IOE

      IOE

      Dr Christine Hoffman

      IOE

      IOE CLIEE

      Adam Salisbury

      IOE

      IOE CLIEE

      Tony McNeill

      SLASH

      Arts and humanities

      Abbi Shaw

      SLASH

      SELCS

      Abbi Shaw

      SLASH

      Arts and Humanities

      Michael Veale

      SLASH

      LAWS

      Farah Rouba

      SLASH

      LAWS

      Beth Beasant

      SLASH

      LAWS

      Dr Silvia Dal Bianco

      SLASH

      SHS

      Matteo Fumagalli

      SLASH

      SHS

      Kitty Ho

      SLASH

      Arts and humanities

      Fiona Harvey

      SLASH

      SHS

      Jelena Calic

      SLASH

      SSEES

      Tomas Cvrcek

      SLASH

      SELCS

      Michael Wozniak

      SLASH

      SSEES

      Tomas Cvrcek

      SLASH

      SSEES

      Dr Steven Bloch

      SLMS

      Faculty of Brain Sciences

      Dr John Greenwood

      SLMS

      Faculty of Brain Sciences

      Hannah Spikesley

      SLMS

      Faculty of Brain Sciences

      Neil Roberts

      SLMS

      Faculty of Brain Sciences

      Jay Varia

      SLMS

      Faculty of Brain Sciences

      Donna Pile-Grant

      SLMS

      Faculty of Brain Sciences

      Dr Alison Sturrock

      SLMS

      Faculty of Medical Sciences

      Prof Nathan Davies

      SLMS

      Faculty of Medical Sciences

      Tony Kiangebeni

      SLMS

      Faculty of Medical Sciences

      Taylor Bennie

      SLMS

      Faculty of Medical Sciences

      Hazel Smith

      SLMS

      Life Sciences

      Kirsty Martin

      SLMS

      Life Sciences

      Janice Kiugu

      SLMS

      Life Sciences

      Jane Simmonds

      SLMS

      Population Health Sciences

      Sean Gainford

      SLMS

      Population Health Sciences

       

       

       

      Students' Union

       

      Simon To

      Leadership Development & Change Manager

      Ayman Benmati

      Education Officer

      Jim Onyememnam

      Postgraduate Students Officer

      Yasmeen Daoud

      Welfare and International Officer

       

       

      Project Team

       

      Derfel Owen (Chair)

      OVPESA

      Joanne Moles

      Academic Services

      Katherine Majid

      Academic Services

      Simon Walker

      Arena

      Steve Rowett

      Digital Education

      Tanya Tomic

      ISD

      Sabina Lamstaes

      ISD

      Shaun Kent

      ISD

      Karen Ofosu-Orchard

      ISD

      Alexis Nelson

      ISD

      How is engagement with students taking place? 

      The Students' Union UCL (SU) are part of the Digital Assessment Working Group and will feed into all relevant areas of the project.

      With support from SU, the project will also be holding student focus groups to capture wider input from the student body. 

       
      What were the findings in the AssessmentUCL 2020-21 evaluation report?

      To understand what has gone well during the Temporary Operating Model and any areas for improvement, the Digital Assessment Team, supported by a small team of student ChangeMakers, completed staff and student surveys and a series of interviews and focus groups. 

      The findings from the staff and student staff surveys reveal a set of positive and negative experiences. Staff found the platform was generally robust and delivered a largely consistent experience but comments focused on improvements they would like to see to platform settings or functionality. 

      Download the 2020-21 AssessmentUCL Evaluation report [Word]

       

         

           

           
          Return to top