Different types of assessments and their effect on students' learning and workload in remote learning

The Covid-19 pandemic disrupted the normal mode of teaching and a remote learning model was substituted in the academic year of 2020-21. As part of the move, a series of additional summative assessments were introduced in many modules of the host department of this study to ensure students' engagement and provide them with feedback while they were learning remotely. Coursework, online quizzes and online exams were used to assess students' learning in this academic year. A student workload model was used to predict the effect of assessments and ensure students have enough time to study all their modules. Surveys were used to determine how different forms of assessment contributed to students learning as well as their impact on students’ workload. Questionnaires were designed to collect information on the number of hours students spent on different forms of assessments, how they perceived the effect of those assessments on their learning and how well they have learned different subjects. Irrespective of the weighting of the assessments and their types, students have treated all summative assessments very seriously and spent considerable time on even small pieces of assessments such as weekly online quizzes with a very low weighting. They perceived completing harder and longer assessments contributed relatively less to their learning. Amongst all three types of assessment, students reported reviewing for online exams helped them the most to enhance their learning.