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 weeks 2-12.

eFIL exercises will count for 20% of your unit grade. While you will sit 11 eFILs in weeks 2-12, only your best 10 will count (each worth 2%). There is also a practice eFIL in week 1, which does not count towards your grade, and is there to introduce you to the format.

What’s Involved?

Each week you 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. You 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 attempt is open for 20 minutes.

How is eFIL different from a normal quiz?

eFIL assessment provides you with the opportunity to discuss your answers with a small group of students online, just as if you were in a classroom tutorial session. Every week, after the first quiz attempt has been made, you will be able to enter a forum as part of a small group of students, where you will have the opportunity to discuss everyone's answers and the reasons for these answers. You will then take the quiz a second time; open until the deadline; with the benefits of knowing the views of other students. Your highest grade of the two will count.

IMPORTANT: It is strongly encouraged that you 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 you need to plan your time accordingly.

Your 10 best eFILs from weeks 2-12 are each worth 2%. There are five (5) questions in each activity, in a multiple choice format, 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 2-12. As in the case of the eFIL exercises, your best 10 SPSS practicals count towards your final unit grade. There is a practice SPSS practical in week 1, which does not count towards your grade, and is there to introduce you to the format.

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, you should ensure that you 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, you should complete all the Smart Alex's tasks for chapters 1 and 2 in week 1 before attempting the quiz. You should also complete your 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, you should ensure that you 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 you 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 you need to plan your time accordingly.

Your best 10 SPSS practical exercise are each worth 6% of your unit grade. Practicals will involve analysing data using SPSS. Grades are determined by answering 5-6 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.

The final assessment for the course is an online assessment, which will be held during examination week. The final assessment is worth 20% and is an online quiz, where you will be given a scenario, and will then answer 2-3 short questions on each one. A practice example of the online test will be available on Moodle throughout the term, so you can see its format. Answers will generally be short answers, in some cases a single word or number will be required, while in other cases, you may be required to write a sentence or two. The replacement assessment is open-book, and three hours are allowed for completion. You will not be allowed to consult with other students during the examination period.

This assessment covers the entire content of the unit, and is worth 20% of your final mark. While you will get feedback on your eFIL and SPSS prac assessments, for this final assessment, you will not get feedback apart from your mark. The assessment is marked manually by the unit coordinator, so marks will not be immediately available when the assessment is completed.