Studying Online;Succeeding through Distance Learning at University

170 Studying online 
y
Consultancy reports 
y
Essays 
y
Exams 
y
Forum discussions 
y
Group projects 
y
Multiple-choice tests 
y
Podcasts 
y
Portfolios 
y
Posters 
y
Presentations 
y
Quizzes 
y
Refections 
y
Research reports 
y
Roleplays 
y
Study logs 
y
Tutorial discussions. 
Tat’s quite a wide variety of assessment methods – and I hope to 
continue to innovate with new ways of assessing students. Not ev-
ery subject is amenable to a range of assessment types, of course. 
Plus, science and engineering courses, among others, will require 
some practical assessments as well. Even so, the days of just hav-
ing mid-term essays and end-of-term exams as the only form of 
assessment are pretty much over for today’s students; and rightly 
so. Tis means that if you have a fear of exams or do not like writ-
ing essays, there will be other kinds of assessment in which you 
will be able to shine. 
Te move to online studying is a help for students. Gone are 
those cold and draughty exam halls because you will take your 
exams online. No longer will you have to wait outside an exam 
room, with everyone around you feeling nervous, making you 
more anxious than necessary. I remember waiting outside an 
exam room on a dreary cold winter morning, minding my own 
business when a couple of students near me started saying how 
they were worried about the exam. Tey said they didn’t want a 
particular topic to come up as it was difcult. But they were sure 
it would be one of the questions as it hadn’t been covered for the 

---

Coping with online assessment 171 
past few years. I, too, was worried about that subject. However, 
I had managed to eliminate it from my mind – until those stu-
dents near me started talking about it. My anxiety levels shot up, 
which is not good as you are about to walk into the exam hall. 
For online exams, there is none of that. You can’t be “infected” by 
the anxiety of those around you. 
Another advantage of being an online student is that lecturers 
have to be more innovative with their assessments. Tis is be-
cause it’s not as easy to do some group exercises that might have 
typically formed part of a course assessment. Tat’s feasible when 
everyone is in the same classroom together, but not straightfor-
ward when all the students are studying separately at a distance 
to the university. In-class tests often occur during a module, for 
instance, and they are easier to arrange when everyone is in the 
same room. Universities also have concerns that online students 
may be more prone to cheating than those on campus. So, this is 
leading to innovative assessments for those studying online. Al-
together, these factors mean that for anyone studying online, the 
assessment methods are likely to be more varied than has been 
the case traditionally. 
Even so, assessment can be troubling for students. It can lead to 
anxiety, and this, in turn, can reduce your performance. Indeed, 
there is evidence that anxiety for assessments leads to lower results 
(Woldeab and Brothen, 2019). Tere appears to be a myth amongst 
many students that being anxious about tests and exams is good. It 
isn’t; anxiety reduces your ability to perform at your best. So, if you 
want to gain the best possible marks for all of your assignments and 
exams, you need to ensure that your anxiety levels are low. 
