Benefits and obstacles: factors affecting the uptake of CAA in undergraduate courses

This short paper introduces and outlines a piece of research investigating the use of Computer Assisted Assessment (CAA) with undergraduate students, in order to identify the benefits of CAA as well the perceived obstacles to its adoption. It is hoped that ultimately this research will be able to inform the future use of CAA at undergraduate level, especially in blended learning environments. This research is currently in progress at the University of Bradford as part of the author’s PhD and feeding into the university’s Pathfinder project into e-assessment. The author hopes to be able to take advantage of the 11th International CAA conference to raise various issues related to this research project with his professional colleagues in order to receive feedback; this should enable decisions to be made on progress to date and inform how the research project may be developed in future

Secure, reliable and effective institution-wide e-assessment: paving the way for new technologies

This short paper addresses a number of the key themes of the 12th International CAA conference with particular regard to evaluation, innovation and strategic developments. It is based on the current findings and experiences from two interrelated CAA projects underway at the University of Bradford: “Embedded support processes for e-Assessment” and “Integrating thin client systems and smart card technology to provide flexible, accessible and secure e-Assessment”. These two projects, along with specific aims in the University’s Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategy and other projects conducted as part the institution’s e-Strategy, aim to establish an effective and efficient system for online summative and formative assessment at the University of Bradford that will meet the needs of a Higher Education Institution in the 21st century. This is very much a work in progress, and it is hoped that this work will be written up as a long paper for a future CAA conference