
Background
Concordia University (CU) is a comprehensive university located in Montreal, the largest city in Québec, Canada. Concordia University is committed to innovation and excellence in education, research, creative activity and community partnerships.
CU offers 300 undergraduate programmes, 195 graduate programmes, diplomas and certificates, and 40 postgraduate programmes. Its Faculty of Fine Arts is one of the largest in Canada.
CU supports its 45,000 students and over 2,000 full and part time staff through online learning via its Moodle LMS. As well as maintaining a high level of educational delivery standards, the shift from traditional in-person paper based exams to an online assessment platform was a massive organisational change to manage on an aggressive timeline.
Solution
The Concordia exam delivery platform was launched as COLE – Concordia OnLine Exams.
COLE prioritises student success with ease of navigation, a user-friendly dashboard and a high level of student exam support services. COLE is the latest addition to the university’s suite online education tools.
Faculty Benefits
Using automated grading workflows has many advantages - examinations can be generated faster and more frequently if required. Tutors are able to give much more immediate feedback on examinations and are not required to decipher individual handwriting styles. As not all of the COLE grading is automated, the academic staff are spending their marking time more efficiently.
Grades are automatically recorded, easier for faculty members working as a team to interact, analyse the student data, and add insights and assessment.
Institutions are now able to deliver high stakes exams to global candidates as they are not restricted to running an exam in a dedicated physical test location.
Already being familiar with online learning makes the transition of online assessment a natural progression for students.
It is also very easy to adapt online assessments to cater for students of all needs. Extra time is can be allocated for students with special considerations/requirements.