Assessment

How can I understand what digital assessment tools are available and use this knowledge to develop a coherent toolkit to assess student learning over time?

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Contact the Digital Learning team for help, support and advice for any digital learning tool or task.

What are assessments?

Assessments are essential for measuring student learning. Increasingly, we use digital tools to assess students for both formative and summative assessments.

Digital tools can be used in all aspects of the assessment process including designing, creating materials, managing, marking and providing feedback on assessment, and analysing results across groups of students.

Matching tools to the assessment aim will help make learning and assessment feel more authentic to the students and can help reduce workload on academics through the use of automatic feedback and other online tools.

Why should I consider developing an assessment toolkit?

Assessments are not just about achieving a grade; they are an integral part of the curriculum design supporting learning and development. Without a varied toolkit, there is a risk of repetition, reduced engagement, students perceiving assessment as unnecessary, gaps in scaffolding and in reviewing subject knowledge.

We also have to address the challenges of assessment when AI can be used to answer so many questions for students. In order to plan in this way, over extended periods, ideally means having a toolkit of resources available to deploy helping people to match effort to outcomes for both academics and students.

Variety in assessment

Well designed assessments can test students beyond knowledge recall. Testing skills, creativity or critical thinking allows for more inclusive assessment. Using a range of digital tools in your assessment helps students express their knowledge, skills and experience in a variety of ways.

Real word relevance

Relevant and varied assessments engage students and using authentic assessment approaches can emphasise the real world relevance of the work. Creating assessments with strategy in mind can also help reduce assessment fatigue helping students balance their responsibilities.

Reflective assessment

Structured process of formative and summative assessment allows student to reflect and take action on their own development. Digital tools can support this process by tracking stats, engagement and progress over time.

Moodle Quiz

To assess learners formatively or summatively using structured questions with defined answers, Moodle offers a powerful Quiz tool. This flexible feature supports a wide range of question types and allows you to incorporate multimedia elements, such as images and other media, directly into your questions.

You can draw on existing question banks or create your own customised questions to suit your teaching needs. This enables you to design engaging, varied, and robust assessments that support diverse learning approaches.

How can I implement a range of assessment types?

We recommend considering the student journey across your whole course. Think about where using digital assessment tools can support the students learning and also staff capacity to track and manage student development. Familiarise yourself with the list of digital tools below and consider which of these could help support your learning outcomes.

Encourage learning through authentic assessment

Authentic assessment

Authentic assessments are designed to reflect real world processes. These assessment types will naturally be dictated by your specific subject area and will often involve tools and processes that are unique to your subject. There are also a wide range of general digital tools that can be integrated.

Professional skills are developed through the authentic assessment process.
Authentic assessment tests and develops subject specific skills. This requires students to apply what they learn.
Authentic assessment connects course material and assessments to real world practice and scenarios.

Microsoft 365

Microsoft offers a wide range of tools that can be integrated into assessment or used to create materials to be submitted.

Content creation and presentation with Clipchamp, Sway, PowerPoint and CoPilot
Data analysis and presentation with PowerBI and Excel

Visit the IDG Knowledge Base for information and guides on the Microsoft apps available.

Production resources

Warwick has specialist facilities to support authentic assessment outputs, including:

Audio content creation in podcasting spaces (Westwood and Central Campus)
Video and video podcasting using RapidMooc and Rode VideoCaster

Bespoke advice

Work with your specialist technicians and our Digital Learning team to test and develop new methods or tools.

Develop reflective practice and continuous development

Digital Portfolios

Digital portfolios are an effective way to assess a student’s ability to adapt information, present complex ideas, and build a narrative or reflective account of their learning.

Reflective portfolios allow students to analyse and articulate what, how, and why they have learned
Planning, monitoring and evaluative skills are enhanced to aid independent and lifelong learning.
Digital literacy skills are enhanced as portfolios will generally be presented in multimodal forms.
Portfolios help students prepare for professional practice by framing them as authentic assessment.

Mahara

Mahara can be particularly effective when used for reflective and portfolio based assessment, allowing students to demonstrate learning and skills development through a variety of evidence types.

Examples of assessment in Mahara:

Multimedia portfolios - students can submit evidence using text, audio, video, and images rather than relying solely on written assignments
Reflective practice - students can reflect on their learning experiences, progress and achievements alongside their evidence
Work-based learning - suitable for placements, internships, professional practice and workplace projects where students can document real-world experiences
Group and project work - portfolios can be used to showcase collaborative outputs and reflect on individual contributions
Professional skills development - portfolios an be mapped to professional standards, and used to evidence competency, skills and experience.

Padlet

Padlet offers a simple, visual approach to creating digital portfolios:

Students can curate and present work in flexible formats (e.g. boards, timelines, grids)
Supports multimedia content, including text, images, video, and links
Well-suited for short-term, module-based, or reflective portfolio activities
Encourages collaboration and peer interaction

OneNote

OneNote, part of Microsoft 365, provides a flexible platform for building digital portfolios:

Integrates with other Microsoft 365 tools, including Teams
Enables content organisation through notebooks, sections, chapters and pages
Supports collaborative working, allowing shared and co-created portfolios

Communicate knowledge in different forms

Video Essay

Assessment outputs can move beyond traditional approaches, embracing creative and multimedia formats like video. Video essays can be an engaging way for students to translate their knowledge and communicate it in different forms. They may also support inclusivity by providing an alternative to text-based assessment, which can be particularly helpful for some students with additional learning needs or requirements.

Engaging in multimodal forms enhances the students ability to communicate ideas effectively.
Video structures emphasise short form engagement, ensuring students understand focus, clarity and concision.
Visual communication reflects an increasingly important skill in the workplace
Supports the development of digital literacy

EchoVideo

EchoVideo tools support simple video creation and capture:

Capture video using attached cameras or screen recording
Download recordings for use in other tools and platforms

Microsoft Clipchamp

Clipchamp enables flexible video creation and editing:

Allows capture of attached cameras
Combine video, audio, and images from a wide range of sources
Includes a web-based editing platform for more complex editing tasks

Digital Learning tools

The following list of digital tools can support assessment. Some approaches to using these are mentioned above. If you think that one of these might work to support you with this but would like to discuss this with us, please get in touch.

Moodle

Moodle is Warwick’s Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) - a web‑based platform used to support teaching, learning, and assessment across the University. Moodle can be used to deliver formative and summative online exams, tests and self-assessments.

Moodle offers a range of options for designing and managing assessment, including activities marked automatically, by tutors, or through peer review. Results can be stored directly in the Gradebook, supporting efficient management of marks and feedback.

The Quiz activity supports over 20 question types, including advanced formats such as calculated questions. The Assignment activity allows students to submit work in a variety of formats, including files, online text, Mahara portfolios, and video, either individually or in groups. The Lesson activity supports branching pathways, allowing students to move through different content depending on their responses.

H5P in Moodle is useful for creating interactive and engaging activities, but we recommend its use for formative assessment only. It is not appropriate for summative assessment because it lacks the controls needed for secure delivery, such as robust management of attempts, time limits, and reasonable adjustments.

Useful information

Mahara

Mahara, known as MyPortfolio at Warwick, is a personal electronic portfolio available to all students and staff. It provides a flexible online space to collect, organise, reflect on, and showcase your learning and development throughout your academic and professional journey.

With Mahara, users can create and curate “artefacts” such as files, journal entries, CV details, plans, images, and externally hosted media, and bring them together into pages and collections that can be shared with others.

Mahara can be used to create digital portfolios for reflective, developmental, and authentic assessment. It allows students to present evidence of learning over time, including written reflection, project progress, and multimedia content. This makes it particularly valuable for assessing how students analyse their learning, communicate complex ideas, and demonstrate personal or professional development. Templates and Moodle integration can also help structure activities and support submission for assessment.

Useful information

Echo360

Echo360, known at Warwick as EchoVideo, is the University’s lecture capture and video learning platform. It provides students with access to recorded lectures, interactive video tools, and a personal media library for uploading their own video content. Recordings are captured on campus and made available through Moodle.

EchoVideo supports both teaching and learning by offering flexible ways to revisit content, take notes, view transcripts, and engage with video‑based activities. Staff can create additional recordings using Universal Capture, create video-based guidance, edit existing videos, and manage media through the EchoVideo library. Videos can support assessment preparation by giving students flexible access to recorded lectures, transcripts, notes, and other video-learning tools.

Useful information

Padlet

Padlet is an online collaborative noticeboard and digital canvas used at Warwick to support interactive learning, discussion, and idea-sharing. It allows staff and students to post text, images, videos, links, and other media in real time, with contributions anonymous by default to encourage participation.

Warwick provides an institutional Padlet licence, giving staff access to enhanced features, templates, and sharing options beyond the free version. Padlet can support both live collaboration and independent study and is simple to embed into Moodle or share via link or QR code.

Padlet can support assessment by giving students a flexible digital space to curate and present work in a range of multimedia formats. It is particularly useful for low stakes, presentation based assessment tasks, reflective tasks, short-term portfolio activities, collaborative work, and assessments that value process, organisation, and creative presentation.

Useful information

Rapidmooc

Rapidmooc is Warwick’s self‑service video recording studio, designed to make it easy for staff and postgraduate research students to create high‑quality videos, presentations, interviews, and teaching content.

Studios are located across campus and are equipped with professional lighting, cameras, microphones, and a green‑screen setup, allowing you to record polished videos with your slides or other media seamlessly displayed behind or beside you.

Rapidmooc is ideal for creating teaching materials, module introductions, demonstrations, and reflective or interview‑style recordings and allows users to:

Record presentations, interviews, discussions and teaching content with professional‑quality audio and video.
Use the green screen to place yourself in front of slides, images or live screen demos.
Create videos independently using a simple touchscreen interface with no technical setup.
Upload recordings directly to platforms such as Echo360 for storage, editing and publishing.

Recording materials through video can help to create high-quality outputs topresent ideas, demonstrate understanding and communicate to a wide audience.

Useful information

About and Guides

Booking Calendar

Podcasting

Podcasting is a powerful tool for both creators and listeners. Audio can offer a more personal and engaging experience than text alone, and is particularly effective for reflective tasks, interviews, storytelling, and delivering clear, structured explanations.

Digital Learning and Audio Visual Services have collaborated to set up a podcasting station within our Rapidmooc Studio in Westwood and a Video Podcasting station within our RapidMooc Studio on Central Campus. We can offer support and guidance on scripting, recording techniques, microphones, and accessibility best practice to improve sound quality and learning impact.

Audio materials can support assessment design when academics create audio content to frame, guide, and enrich assessment tasks. For example, podcasts can be used to introduce assessment briefs, provide contextual or case-based stimulus material, model disciplinary discussion, offer revision support, or deliver feedforward and feedback in a more conversational format. This can help make assessment expectations clearer, support engagement with complex topics, and give students more flexible ways to access guidance.

Useful information

Research and case studies

Explore research and case studies that demonstrate how assessment can be used effectively to enhance teaching and learning, supported by evidence and real-world examples.

Overview

Assessment is a fundamental driver of student learning, significantly influencing what students prioritise and how they engage with their studies (Akhimov & Malin 2020; Martin, Kim et al. 2025). By utilising authentic assessment types such as case study analyses, electronic portfolios, and design projects, educators foster higher-order thinking skills, including critical analysis, creativity, and problem-solving (Martin, Kim et al. 2025; Marinho, Fernandes & Pimental 2021). Furthermore, innovative methods like blogging or synchronous self-assessment increase student agency and motivation by allowing learners to take ownership of their evaluation process and develop metacognitive capacities through continuous self-reflection (Christie & Morris 2021; Remsal & Estrada 2023).

For instructors, a well-designed assessment strategy serves as a critical pedagogical tool for curriculum alignment and instructional improvement. It allows teachers to ensure that classroom activities are directly synchronised with intended learning outcomes, promoting a coherent and cumulative learning experience rather than a fragmented one (Akhimov & Malin 2020; Tree and Worsfold 2026). Formative assessment, in particular, creates essential feedback loops that enable instructors to identify student misunderstandings in real-time and adjust their teaching methods to meet diverse learner needs (Jantos & Langesee 2023).

Additionally, diverse assessment formats—such as oral examinations or interactive digital portfolios—strengthen academic integrity by practically eliminating opportunities for contract cheating while also reducing the stress associated with one-dimensional testing (Akhimov & Malin 2020). Ultimately, sophisticated assessment design provides teachers with deeper insights into student performance and facilitates the development of a more inclusive, responsive educational environment (Crisan & Pop. 2020)

Academic papers

Case studies

Useful guides

Cadmus Pilot - Exploring the future of digital assessment at Warwick
Education Policy and Quality Assessment Framework
Assessment Strategy
Academic Development Centre Assessment guidance
Warwick Assessment System (WAS)
Modules, Marks and Assessment team
Moodle guide to assessment and feedback
Moodle activity types
Accessibility in Moodle
Summative and formative assessments
Tabula Manual