BOC Quizzes

Assessment on BOCs differs from assessment on taught and accredited OU modules in a number of important ways:

• It provides a way for learners to check their understanding of the course and gain acknowledgement of their time and learning. However, it is not a way to accredit learning.
• BOC assessment is carried out using Moodle (VLE) quizzes which are computer marked rather than being marked by tutors.
• Feedback is automatically generated rather than being provided by tutors.
• There is no check on who does the assessment.
• Each BOC is 8 weeks in length, culminating in a quiz at the end of each week.
• A variety of different question types should be used throughout all the quizzes.
• Weeks 1-3 and 5-7:
  • will each contain a 5-question quiz (with no additional variants)
  • are formative and therefore the learner can score less than 50% and still progress through the course.
• Weeks 4 and 8:
  • will each contain a 15-question quiz
  • the week 4 quiz tests the contents of weeks 1 to 4, and similarly the week 8 quiz tests the contents of weeks 5 to 8
  • are summative and therefore the learner has to score at least 50% in both quizzes to achieve the final badge
  • each question will have two additional variants, making a total of 45 questions for each week. This provides the resource to enable a learner to retake the quizzes if 50% is not achieved.
• Each question will require feedback whether the question is correct or incorrect referring to the relevant section of the course that the question derives from.
• Each question has three attempts to answer the question correctly (unless it is a true/false question, in which case only one attempt is allowed). For this reason any multiple-choice questions should have at least four possible answers. On each attempt the learner is given the opportunity to answer the same variant again.
• An OU digital badge and Statement of Participation will automatically be awarded to the learner upon viewing every page within the course and successfully achieving over 50% in each of the quizzes in weeks 4 and 8.

As a result of these characteristics, BOC assessment is primarily geared towards helping learners gain a better idea of their progress. It may also, for some learners, be a way of showing others (including employers) how they have used ‘learning time’ and their achievements. Unlike the awards associated with OU modules it does not demonstrate that learners have earned credit points that can be counted towards a degree or qualification.