BU Biology faculty members Liz Co, Kathryn Spilios and Uwe Beffert were awarded a Learning Technologies Development Grant from BU’s Center for Teaching and Learning to fund two years of implementation of a cloud-based digital exam platform, ExamSoft. This technology, allows for easy creation and secure distribution of digital exams. The software uses military-grade encryption to securely store exam questions and data on question use and performance. Every exam question can be tagged for content, course, style, learning objective and Bloom’s level. Data can then be extracted to examine performance through different analytical perspectives. Most significantly, student reports encourage metacognition and study skills evaluation. The software can also be used to drive program assessment.
Drs. Co, Spilios, and Beffert have worked a great deal on advancing the use of learning technology within the Biology department, and we are excited to see how this grant enhances student learning!