Online assessment
Assessment during the semester provides you with an opportunity to identify your strengths and weaknesses and target areas that need work. Final exams and assessment at the end of semester provide you with an overall evaluation of your learning throughout the course.
Your course may use Wattle quizzes, discussion forums, workshops, lessons and other tools to provide you with feedback on your learning throughout the semester. Final assessment in your courses may be run through the Wattle course site, using tools such as Turnitin and Proctorio.
Support: How to use Wattle
Turnitin for text matching
Turnitin is the ANU approved text-matching system that is used to assess your assignment submissions in a way that supports academic integrity. Turnitin compares your texts to three main databases: an internet archive, scholarly publications and a global student papers database. Turnitin is integrated into Wattle, allowing for online submission and the assessment workflow.
The Turnitin software can be used as a learning tool to assist you to improve your writing, through the reinforcement of correct citation and referencing techniques. As a research student, you are advised to use Turnitin prior to submitting your assignment, to allow you to review your work and make any required changes. Please go to Academic Skills - Turnitin for support and advice.
The use of Turnitin for academic staff is outlined in the ANU Student Assessment (Coursework) policy. Please refer to the section on Assessment Task Submission for more information.
Proctorio for online exams
Proctorio is an online exam invigilation service that is used in conjunction with the quiz activity in Wattle. The service is used when it is not possible for a person to be in attendance during your exam, in order to ensure academic integrity. The primary purpose of using Proctorio is to provide authentication that the correct person is doing the exam.
Proctorio records and captures certain behaviours during an exam, depending on the settings your course convener has specified. It runs as a browser extension in Google Chrome, so can be easily disabled or uninstalled after the exam. Proctorio can record your webcam, microphone, screen, keyboard activity and mouse clicks, as well as any websites that you visit during your exam. Proctorio does not record which keys you type, just that a key has been pressed. Proctorio does not decide what kind of behaviours constitute cheating; it just flags particular moments or aspects of your recording for your lecturers' consideration. For example, if you have significantly more or less keystrokes than your classmates, these may be flagged for consideration.
Proctorio recordings are securely stored. Recordings are deleted once course results are finalised. They can only be accessed, after the exam, by the academics of your course and responsible College staff members, as outlined in the Privacy Impact Assessment. Photos of your identity card and face are sent to be verified by the Examinations office. The use of Proctorio is subject to the ANU Privacy Policy. Reviewing of video and audio can only be done to determine if academic misconduct has occurred in connection with a student's academic progress.
Course conveners can set-up Proctorio exams with different settings depending on the activities they expect in the exam. For example, Proctorio would normally flag the appearance of a second face in your recording as suspicious, but in a Group-work exam, that would be fine. After your exam, your convener can review all the recordings and decide whether the flagged events do in fact indicate a breach of exam integrity, or just an ordinary event that is not suspicious. This often even works to a student's advantage, providing evidence of an event if you need to apply for special consideration.
It is highly recommended to practice using Proctorio before your exam, to make sure the computer you are planning to use works well in this context. The best option is for your course convener to provide you with a practice exam to try out, which contains all the settings they plan to use. There is also a practice exam you can trial on the Proctorio Practice site: a Wattle site providing two Proctorio practice exams (lenient and tight).
For further advice refer to the links below: