Take-home assessment

It is useful to bear in mind that what is sometimes referred to as an assessment method is, in fact, only the condition in which the assessment takes place and thus only one of several choices to be made in assessment design. The term ‘take-home assessment’ mainly describes the conditions under which an assessment will take place – it does not describe the method by which the students will be assessed. Assessment conditions establish the parameters of assessment but within each of these assessment conditions a number of assessment methods may be used. Reflecting on the purpose, timing and assessment mix should help with decisions regarding assessment conditions.

• The time period, and the ability to access materials, may allow students to better demonstrate their knowledge, abilities and use of sources.
• If the course’s learning outcomes emphasis higher order cognitive skills (argument, application, comparison, critique etc.) and the use of sources, a take-home assessment may allow for a more authentic assessment of these.
• For some programmes, take-home assessments more closely resemble the work activities where students’ knowledge and skills will ultimately be used.
• Can require fewer adjustments for individual students. For instance, take-home assessments can accommodate students who would need additional time in a traditional exam, and students can use their own computer equipment with support software.
• When submissions are word-processed and electronically submitted they are more legible than hand-written scripts, and can be marked by two academics simultaneously. With student permission, past answers can be anonymised and shared as exemplars.

• Students need to provide their own workspace and computer equipment.
• Adequate support should be available (both technical, and for clarification in case of factual errors in questions etc.) for the duration of the take home assessment.
• Take-home assessments carry an increased risk of unauthorised collaboration between students.

Students may find a take-home assessment less stressful than a traditional exam (see Weber, McBee and Krebs, 1983) for various reasons (familiar location, access to materials, additional and more flexible time). Different formats and lengths of take-home assessment might confuse students; therefore each assessment task should be accompanied by clear guidance. The risk of unauthorised collaboration can affect student perceptions of fairness. If take-home assessments are being considered for an existing course it might be worthwhile consulting students on the course to gauge enthusiasm and to identify concerns or misconceptions.

Questions should be designed to demand higher order activities from students, and checked by colleagues for possible misinterpretation (and approved by the department and external examiners if required by departmental practice). Criteria should be established in advance and shared with students. Written instructions should be carefully prepared so as to minimise student stress and queries during the assessment period. These should include: word-count (setting a word-count can communicate expectations, help with parity and keep marking workload reasonable); preferred referencing systems, and the policy for late submissions. Formative assessment should help prepare students for the summative take-home assessment work, in terms of question type and assessment method. Take-home assessment can help reduce the need for specific adjustments for individual students. However, consideration should still be given to this (see ‘Accessible assessment’ for more detail).

Submissions should be double marked or moderated in accordance with departmental practice. The intended learning outcomes of a course are often written such that they reflect what students will have learned by the end of the course; however, as take-home assessments are timetabled by the department, students may be assessed during the term. Therefore the marker should be careful to assess them in relation to what they are expected to know at that particular point in time. Individual markers should take steps to avoid the problems which affect batch marking, such as the 'halo' effect where one or two positive characteristics of a student overly influence the marker.

Changing questions each year prevents previous cohorts of students from sharing their work. Requiring students to work with a recent source, or with specific course content and activities, limits opportunities for finding pre-existing content and tasks can be linked to a previous completed assessment to prove authorship (and to create a developmental feedback process). If students are not permitted to consult staff members during the assessment period, then it is important to check that all departmental staff, GTAs, and LSE LIFE are aware of this, and know both the assessment timing and (ideally) the questions. Online submission can include a text-matching tool such as Turnitin and students can be asked to submit a declaration of academic integrity (or similar) with their completed scripts. Teachers can also contact the Eden Centre Eden Digital team for further guidance if they are planning on setting a take-home assessment using technology.

There are practical design issues to consider when using take-home assessments to assess students who are either physically impaired; have mental health difficulties; specific learning differences, or Autism Spectrum Condition. Wherever possible design issues should be addressed in the initial course design phase. The Accessible Assessment area of this toolkit provides further information about how this might be achieved. This is a guide and should be treated as such. In all cases the experiences of individual students can be diverse. You should always consult the student’s inclusion plan as well as speaking to the student directly. The discussion in this section is drawn on the work of the Inclusive Practice community at Sheffield Hallam University who we wish to acknowledge and thank.

If you’re considering using take-home assessment, this resource offers more specific information, pedagogic and practical, about implementing the method at LSE. This resource is password protected to LSE staff.