Theoretical and methodological issues of formative e-assessment in plenary lectures

TLDR: In this article, the authors focus on whether and eventually how audience response systems (ARS) can be used to overcome some of the challenges lecturers have in large plenary lectures attached to formative assessment, such as high number of students attending, the time pressure in such lectures, lack of interactivity, students' fear of speaking up and the limited resources for giving feedback.

Abstract: Based on criticism from both the evaluation of Norwegian pedagogy research, Evaluation of the Quality Reform and Norwegian student organizations, this article focuses on whether, and eventually how audience response systems (ARS) can be used to overcome some of the challenges lecturers have in large plenary lectures attached to formative assessment. The Bologna process, new standards for national curricula, increasing diversity among university students, more focus on formative assessment and the digital revolution have changed some of the underlying premises for teaching, learning and assessment in today's universities. International research in this area shows that new technology such as feedback clickers can, under well-planned pedagogical circumstances, have the potential to provide feedback and formative assessment. However, university teachers who wish to offer formative assessment, face a number of challenges in plenary lectures due to the high number of students attending, the time pressure in such lectures, the lack of interactivity, students' fear of speaking up and the limited resources for giving feedback. At the same time, students spend a lot of time during their years of studies attending such lectures and the need for and expectations of feedback and assessment are usually high. For instance, through the implementation of the Quality Reform in higher education in Norway, particular focus has been on the importance of 'frequent feedback'. Against this backdrop, new policy documents, research and experiences from the field suggest that there is a need to study plenary lectures more in depth in light of the theoretical underpinnings of formative assessment, relevant research and methodological innovation. The aim of this article is to elaborate both the theoretical issues of formative assessment and formative e-assessment as possible frameworks for studying ARS in plenary lectures. At the same time, Design-Based Research (DBR) and Mixed Methods Research (MMR) as possible research designs, will be elaborated in light of how to design studies of such settings. The research question is: Can formative e-assessment, DBR and MMR function as a theoretical and methodological matrix for studying ARS in plenary lectures in higher education?