Supporting intensive continuous assessment with BeA in a flipped classroom experience

Abstract

This paper presents the changes performed in a university course to adopt European Higher Education Area principles taking advantage of new technologies and educational approaches. Particularly, a Flipped Classroom model that also involves an Intensive Continuous Assessment approach is adopted, moving the presentation of theoretical contents to videos that can be watched outside of the classroom and using the classroom face-to-face time to provide explanations, problem solving and to perform assessment activities every week. A main part of innovation in the experience comes from the use of an online tool (BeA - Blended e-Assessment) that facilitates the assessment and reviewing of paper-based exams. This tool supports teachers in assessment tasks, that can be performed in a faster, simpler, more transparent and less error-prone way. The paper shows the results of an experience involving a control group and an experimentation group, in which this new approach and tool have been applied. The results obtained demonstrate the effectiveness of both proposals. In conjunction, the paper describes how a traditional university course based on lectures can be successfully adapted to a more innovative approach based on the principles of active learning and accountability thanks to the use of our blended e-Assessment tool.