eFIL (electronic Focused Interactive Learning) is an innovative method of assessment that encourages active learning and communication among students, irrespective of location. eFIL activities are incorporated into modules 2-5 and 7-12.

Each eFIL exercise will comprise a weighted 2% of the unit grade. eFIL exercises also occur in weeks 1 and 6 but these do not contribute to your final unit grade.

What’s Involved?

Each week students will complete a multiple choice quiz containing 5 ‘complex-reasoning’ and content-knowledge questions. The quiz will be open from Monday morning 9:00 until the following Monday night 23:59 and questions will be based on that week’s unit content. Students need to attempt the quiz twice, with the second attempt being graded.

After the first attempt you will have access to an eFIL Discussion forum for that week, which allows you to discuss the quiz with a small group of other students, before taking your second (and graded) attempt at the quiz. Each quiz is open for 20 minutes.

How is eFIL different from a normal quiz?

eFIL assessment provides students with the opportunity to discuss their answers with a small group of students online, just as if they were in a classroom tutorial session. Every week, after the first quiz attempt has been made, students will be able to enter a forum as part of a small group of students, where they will have the opportunity to discuss their answers and the reasons for these answers. All students will then take the quiz a second time; open until a following Monday night deadline; with the benefits of knowing the views of other students. Only the second quiz attempt is graded.

IMPORTANT: It is strongly encouraged that students keep up to date with iterative assessments. In extenuating circumstances (and in accordance with assessment policy and procedure) an alternative question bank and dataset can be arranged; however please note that this is unlikely to be approved if close to the due date, so students need to plan their time accordingly.

Each quiz question is in multiple choice format and are weighted equally. Each individual eFIL activity is worth 2%. There are five (5) questions in each activity, and each question is weighted equally.

Practical proficiency in analysing data will be assessed via the completion of data analysis exercises in SPSS. Due to the unit being offered by distance, data-sets and questions will be provided for analysis via Moodle in weeks 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 12. As in the case of the eFIL exercises, SPSS practicals also occur in weeks 1 and 6 but these do not contribute to your final unit grade.

Content Covered

Each SPSS practical exercise will cover material for that teaching week: i.e. SPSS practical 1 will cover material from teaching week 1. Importantly, the SPSS practical exercises will be based heavily on the 'Smart Alex's tasks' at the end of each chapter in the text. Therefore, students should ensure they complete and then read the feedback (available as supporting content from the publisher’s website) for the relevant Smart Alex's tasks before attempting the practical exercise. For example, students should complete all the Smart Alex's tasks for chapters 1 and 2 in week 1 before attempting the quiz. Student should also complete their review of the chapter content for that week before attempting the SPSS practical.

Timing

Each SPSS practical will open in the morning on the Monday of the current teaching week, and close at 11:59 on the following Monday. Note that the window for completing each assessment is the same as the eFIL quizzes. In contrast to eFIL, the SPSS practicals are not intended as group discussion exercises are and rather focused on developing your confidence to independently conduct and interpret statistical analysis. A time-limit of 2 hours is enforced for entering the answers of each SPSS practical. Therefore, students should ensure they take steps to avoid technical issues, are fully prepared, and have sufficient time to complete the questions before beginning the assessment.

IMPORTANT: It is strongly encouraged that students keep up to date with iterative assessments. In extenuating circumstances (and in accordance with assessment policy and procedure) an alternative question bank and dataset can be arranged; however please note that this is unlikely to be approved if close to the due date, so students need to plan their time accordingly.

Each SPSS practical exercise is worth 6% of your unit grade, and will involve analysing data using SPSS. Grades are determined by answering 6 specific questions regarding the data, analysis and results via Moodle. Questions will be in a variety of formats. Some questions will be quite concrete (e.g. stating an item of SPSS output) whilst others will require interpretation and judgement. Answers will be entered by students in a variety of formats, including entering a numeric value and selecting one or more statements from a list. Most questions are marked either correct (full marks for that item) or incorrect (no marks for that item). However questions that involve selecting one or more correct statements from a list will provide credit for partially correct answers. See document Guidelines for the eFIL & SPSS Practicals on Moodle website for further details.