Paperless assignments

Moving forward or marking time?

Abstract

The advent of technology in the 1990s was seen as having the potential to revolutionise electronic management of student assignments. While there were advantages and disadvantages, the potential was seen as a necessary part of the future of this aspect of academia. A number of studies (including Dalgarno et al in 2006) identified issues that supported positive aspects of electronic assignment management but consistently identified drawbacks, suggesting that the maximum achievable potential for these processes may have been reached. To confirm the perception that the technology and process are indeed ‘marking time’ a further study was undertaken at the University of South Australia (UniSA). This paper deals with the study of online receipt, assessment and feedback of assessment utilizing UniSA technology referred to as AssignIT. The study identified that students prefer a paperless approach to marking however there are concerns with the nature, timing and quality of feedback. Staff have not embraced all of the potential elements of electronic management of assignments, identified Occupational Health Safety and Welfare issues, and tended to drift back to traditional manual marking processes through a lack of understanding or confidence in their ability to properly use the technology.