Assessment Design Guide

Orientation to Assessment Resources

New! Tutorials to Improve Exam Security

“Academic integrity is a way to change the world. Change the

university first; then change the world.”

Youngsup Kim, ICAI Conference Participant 2008

Exam Best Practices

man sitting in kitchen with laptop while looking at papers
There are several simple strategies to mitigate cheating in online exams from how you craft your questions to monitoring test taking. The Office of Teaching and Learning encourages the use of Proctorio testing software to record and archive testing sessions when using high-stakes exams. Quiz settings in Canvas also offer a variety of ways to control the testing experience and promote academic honesty. This section will include instructions on using Proctorio and Canvas tools, as well as provide guidance on developing strong test questions.
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Paper Best Practices

woman sitting at laptop with pencil in hand and open book next to her
One good alternative to a final exam can be the final paper, especially in upper division courses. Students have the opportunity to synthesize and personalize the concepts they have covered during the semester. The key to encouraging students to submit original work is in how you structure the assignment. If students are asked to use personal experiences and examples, synthesize ideas to address real-world problems, and explore meaning of concepts in a variety of situations, there is less opportunity for cheating and a richer learning experience.
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Creative Assessment Alternatives

woman smiling at laptop while pointing both fingers at the screen
The more “non-traditional” or “authentic” assessments are, the more likely students are to submit original work. These types of assessments are those that allow a student to demonstrate their understanding of a concept in ways other than traditional tests or papers. The range of possibilities for this type of assessment helps provide students with the opportunity to use their own unique skill sets to demonstrate mastery. When a student is asked to submit a creative assessment, it is more difficult for them to “borrow” from another source and pass it off as their own work. 
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In institutions of higher education, faculty are very aware of the importance of academic integrity. It is only through such integrity that we can ensure students, in fact, master the concepts and ideas we hope to impart. Universities often focus on the lack of academic integrity, e.g. setting up offices and providing strict guidelines to address cheating. 

Beyond focusing on cheating, we will focus on how we can reinforce a culture in which academic integrity is expected and celebrated. Rather than simply reacting to cheating when it occurs, we will proactively mitigate it before it ever becomes an issue to resolve.

In this resource, we will address how to prevent dishonesty on the part of students.  However, we will also outline positive steps to help students feel the sense of accomplishment and pride that comes from completing assignments in honest ways.

The International Center for Academic Integrity out of Clemson University lists five values that are fundamental to academic integrity.  They include honesty, trust, fairness, respect, responsibility, and courage. These are the values we want to instill in our UVU students, not as abstract principles, but as a way of life. 

Below we provide a variety of tools and strategies for assisting faculty in developing rigorous final assessments.  These will allow faculty to measure mastery of content while encouraging academic honesty. Resources will be divided into three categories of best practices: exams, papers, and creative assessment alternatives.

References and Additional Resources

References

Additional Campus Resources

Office of Student Conduct

The Office of Student Conduct is a resource for faculty on setting classroom expectations, responding to academic misconduct or classroom disruption, and reporting options.

The Office of Student Conduct is available for consultation if faculty are unsure how to respond to a particular issue. Call (801) 863-5841 or email MarenT@uvu.edu.

Office of Student Conduct

Student Code of Conduct