SCHOOL-WIDE STRATEGIES FOR ASSESSMENT OF LEARNING DURING COVID-19 PANDEMIC

Institutes of higher learning (IHL’s) face unprecedented, restricted movement challenges during the COVID-19 pandemic. This paper describes how the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering of Singapore Polytechnic undertook the re-design of teaching and learning practices and remote e-proctoring of assessments, in such an environment. The pandemic accelerated the switch to blended flipped learning, with all face-to-face lectures, replaced with asynchronous e-learning contents. A structured school-wide approach for teaching and learning to help both staff and students to adapt to the new learning environment was implemented. For Academic Year 2020/21, the School mounted large-scale e-proctored remote online assessments, with carefully considered measures to preserve academic integrity and rigour, to satisfy various stakeholders’ needs. Semester 1 saw more than 100 staff, 2400 full-time and part-time students, and over 100 modules involved. In Semester 2, more than 400 full-time students and 31 modules were involved. Communication and training of the staff were carried out to prepare for the new way of assessment, and also to guide them to help their students for this. The use of a student response system (SRS) for diagnosing student learning of the asynchronous learning contents in-class was introduced. Survey findings show positive results generally, and these included real-time performance data analysis and immediate feedback, checking understanding, and appropriate learning interventions. Similarly, survey findings on the online assessments to engage students in their learning and progress are also shared. A comparison of the overall academic performance of students, pre-pandemic, against those conducted under the remote e-proctored conditions in the changed learning environment, suggests minimal impact. This paper concludes that SEEE’s school-wide strategy supports the learning engagement of the students in the new teaching and learning practices, with the total switch to flipped learning for the diploma engineering courses it offers.