Diversity in Level 1 GEES Assessment: moving from less of more to more of less

Figures & data

Table 1 Module Assessment schedule before (2002–07) and after (2008–09) changes.

Assessment schedule 2002–07	Assessment schedule 2008–09
	Weighting	Word Length/time	Week of Submission deadline		Weighting	Word Length/time	Week of Submission deadline
Coursework (50%)	Coursework (50%)
1. Coursework: library based essay on individual topic	25%	1500	5	1. Coursework: Rocks & Minerals Resource	12.5%	1000	4
2. Micro-climatology Field Report	25%	1500	15	2. Coursework: Weather Report	12.5%	1000	9
3. 5-min Micro-lecture and summary input to module Wikipedia	5%	500
4. Micro-climatology Field Report	15%	1200	15
5. Contribution to module Wiki and Blog: ‘Earth & Atmosphere in the News’	5%	5 × 100 = 500
Examinations (50%)	Examinations (50%)
3. 3-hr written examination (1 hr multiple choice questions; 1 hr short answer questions; 2 × 30 min. essay questions (choose 2 from 6)		3-hr	13	6. Practical File including in-class tests and worksheets	10%	Variable
7. On-line test	15%	1-hr	8
8. 2-hr Written examination (1 hr short answer questions; 2 × 30 min essay questions (choose 2 from 4)	25%	2-hr	14

Figure 1 Scatter plot of % scored in one item of assessment (in this case the Blackboard on-line test worth 15% of the module weighting) vs. overall module total (%).

Figure 2 Scatter plot showing class mean for weighted assessment items vs.unweighted assessment items.

Table 2 Pearson correlation coefficients for individual assessments items vs. module total (2003–09).

Table 3 Ranking of students’ performance in different assessment items, and calculation of the difference between each assessment item and their overall module total ranking.

	100	10		15		15		10
	Module total	Rock	diff	Weather	diff	feld	diff	wiki	diff
	Ranking	Rank	rock	rank	weather	rpt	feld	rank	wiki	etc
Top student	1	1	0	2	−1	3	−2	10	−9
Second student	2	3	−1	11	−9	16	−14	4	−2
Third student	3	16	−13	14	−11	10	−7	3	0
Fourth student	4	13	−9	25	−21	21	−17	5	−1
etc	5	15	−10	21	−16	1	4	2	3

Figure 3 Rankings in different assessment items analysed by student quartiles for 2008 and 2009 module cohorts.