• Overview
  ...a rough guide to e-learning, for staff
• News and Updates

• Using the Course Materials Repository
• Using Online Coursework Submission
• Using the Plagiarism Detection Service
• Using Moodle
• Using WebCT
• Using Perception
• Using a Personal Response System

• SENDA
• Supporting Online Learning
• IPR and Copyright Guidance
• E-Learning Network (Mailing List)
• Training
• Learning and Teaching

QuestionMark Perception

QuestionMark Perception is a web-based tool for creating, publishing and managing the results of online assessments and surveys. It is a suite of software applications including a Windows authoring package; a server to deliver assessments, both formative and summative over the Web; and reporting tools for staff to analyse assessment and survey results.

Perception offers many different question types including multiple choice, multiple response, fill-in-the-blank, essay questions, hotspot, drag and drop, word response (text match), numeric questions, matching/ranking (selection question), matrix, and explanation screens.

The University has QMSecure, an add-on to Perception, which enables the delivery of secure online exams.

Why use online assessments?

The benefits to students include:

• Providing students with immediate feedback and enabling them to identify gaps in knowledge or understanding
• Formative assessments are a useful revision tool, enabling students to revisit course content and assess their comprehension

The benefits to teaching staff include:

• Enabling staff to analyse results online, and monitor student performance quickly and easily
• Easy identification of effective/ineffective questions
• Re-use of question banks, and automatic randomising of questions for re-tests
• No marking!

Support for Perception

If you are interested in using Perception and making assessments available online, please contact the Learning Technology Team (email: ltt, non-Essex users should add @essex.ac.uk).

• If you have never used Perception before, it is strongly recommended that you provide at least one term's notice to allow sufficient time for the necessary development, including any training you may require.
• Please note, that if the assessment method has changed, you must ensure that you have approval from the relevant Faculty Board.

Other resources and tools

• Questionmark Perception web site
• JISC e-Learning Focus (ELF) Assessment Resources
• The JISC has funded the development of TOIA, (Technologies for Interoperable Online Assessment)
• HE Academy, Assessment of Learning: http://www.heacademy.ac.uk/Assessmentoflearning.htm
• OLAAF Project (FDTL4): Online Assessment and Feedback