Technology for assessments

Assessments and exams are used to measure study progress and overall academic performance. Formative assessment provides ongoing feedback through the semester, to help students identify their strengths and weaknesses and target areas that need work, and to help teachers recognise where students are struggling and address any problem areas. High stakes summative assessment is used to evaluate student learning at the end of semester.

In summative assessment, where there is particular concern to assure adherence to academic integrity, Turnitin and Wattle Quizzes with Proctorio are particularly useful.

Turnitin

Turnitin is a text-matching service that is designed to educate students regarding appropriate citation and referencing techniques. Turnitin is also used to assess assignment submissions as a component of the University's approach to managing academic integrity.

The use of Turnitin for academic staff is outlined in the ANU Student Assessment (Coursework) policy. Please refer to the Assessment Task Submission section for more information on the application of the University approved text-matching software, Turnitin.

Turnitin Feedback Studio provides an interface with functions for academics to efficiently assign grades and provide text- or audio-based feedback for student assignments.

Turnitin in Canvas

Turnitin Feedback Studio is not available in Canvas, the new LMS at the ANU from 2025. Instead, the Canvas assessment, marking and feedback tools are used.

Turnitin in Wattle

The Wattle Manual contains useful support content for Turnitin:

Setting up a Rubric;
Grading Form;
Audio and written feedback;
Marking using QuickMarks.

Quizzes for assessment

Quizzes are a great way to provide formative assessment for students to gauge for themselves how they are progressing, and for academics to identify issues where students may need extra assistance. They can also be used for summative assessment, which can count towards final grades. In Canvas quizzes have many settings, options and question types to suit these different purposes.

More information: see our guides on using quizzes in Canvas on the Canvas Support pages (opens in ANU Sharepoint)

Quizzes in Wattle

The Wattle Manual contains extensive support content for Wattle Quizzes, including:

17 Question types;
Create quizzes;
Add random questions;
Organise your quiz;
Review and mark;
Wattle quiz for exams.

Please go to Quizzes Wattle Manual pages to access this resource.

Proctorio for online proctored assessment

Proctorio uses the Google Chrome web browser to monitor exam takers for any behaviour that may indicate an academic integrity breach. It allows the lecturers to set controls on individual exams such as ID verification options, browser limitations, recording options and user behaviour settings. It will flag behaviour based on the chosen settings.

Proctorio recordings are securely stored and only accessed by the academics in the specific course, and, if there are concerns regarding academic misconduct, the responsible College staff member, as outlined in the Privacy Impact Assessment completed by ANU. Proctorio also takes a photo of each student’s ID card, and their face, and these photos are sent to the ANU Exams office for identity verification. The recordings are deleted once course results are finalised.

More information: see our guide on using Proctorio for quiz invigilation in Canvas on the Digital learning and teaching tools and technologies in ANU Canvas page (opens in ANU Sharepoint)

Proctorio in Wattle

Behaviour flags can be reviewed in the Proctorio Gradebook.

Visit Proctorio Guides to access more useful resources on Proctorio in Wattle.

ADVANTAGES	LIMITATIONS
Academic misconduct is reduced as students are aware there is a level of invigilation; Proctorio settings can be adjusted from minimum (verification of student identity) to maximum (browser locked down to a single page and recording of a student’s environment and actions), according to the needs of the exam; The weight of behaviour settings can be adjusted and individual recordings reviewed to see the details of any flagged behaviour; Proctorio allows large numbers of students to take their exams concurrently, with identity verification and invigilation recording options; Proctorio creates a record of internet or other issues that occur during the exam which can be used by students as evidence of the need for special consideration.	Proctorio cannot prevent all academic misconduct; Proctorio cannot guarantee security of exam questions; Student network/computer issues can interrupt the exam; Use of Proctorio can increase student stress during the exam (although some come to prefer using it over taking their exam in an exam hall); Lecturers cannot use Proctorio to be asked questions or broadcast answers during the exam; Students need to do a Proctorio practice exam to ensure their device will be compatible.

ADVANTAGES

LIMITATIONS

Academic misconduct is reduced as students are aware there is a level of invigilation;
Proctorio settings can be adjusted from minimum (verification of student identity) to maximum (browser locked down to a single page and recording of a student’s environment and actions), according to the needs of the exam;
The weight of behaviour settings can be adjusted and individual recordings reviewed to see the details of any flagged behaviour;
Proctorio allows large numbers of students to take their exams concurrently, with identity verification and invigilation recording options;
Proctorio creates a record of internet or other issues that occur during the exam which can be used by students as evidence of the need for special consideration.

Proctorio cannot prevent all academic misconduct;
Proctorio cannot guarantee security of exam questions;
Student network/computer issues can interrupt the exam;
Use of Proctorio can increase student stress during the exam (although some come to prefer using it over taking their exam in an exam hall);
Lecturers cannot use Proctorio to be asked questions or broadcast answers during the exam;
Students need to do a Proctorio practice exam to ensure their device will be compatible.

The use of Proctorio is subject to the ANU Privacy Policy and all staff accessing Proctorio must complete the ANU Privacy Awareness Training module within Pulse before accessing Proctorio student data.

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