UNSW
Mobile Applications
UNSW used smart technology to achieve a two-fold increase in efficiency and productivity
"The entire vision of the project has been brought to fruition. For an exam of 14 students, 1296 results were instantly uploaded from 12 iPads to allow students to view results with a few clicks of a mouse."
Clayton Gilbert
Medicine Computing Support Unit
Challenge
UNSW Medicine sought to act on the rising education attrition rates of students
A performance-based student assessment process was identified to increase students’ engagement levels, have teachers spend more time with students, and action results faster
Inefficiencies due to the use of a paper-based system needed to be addressed, such as the errors associated with manual handling and the time taken to fix those errors
Inconsistencies throughout the process needed to be addressed, to produce reliable testing results and improve student experience
Approach
An iterative approach throughout the project allowed for innovation to be explored with minor risk, and was essential in getting the right outcome for UNSW Medicine
An iOS Mobile App enables teachers to assess students at any time, within any setting in a consistent manner
Ease-of-use and an adaptive UX enables the application to be rolled out across campus, and ensures widespread adoption by the UNSW Medicine workforce
Developed for the iPad, the application has off-line capability and is hosted on Azure; allowing UNSW Medicine to benefit from the security, scalability, and performance of the Microsoft stack
Outcomes
By moving the assessment process to an online application, teachers could assess students in real-time and, results are now instantaneously available to students
A Q&A component increased collaboration between student and teachers, increasing engagement
Streamlined grading across sections decreased the time taken to respond to changing assessment criteria and enhanced the learning process
The risk of transcription errors was negated, and time for teachers to prepare for examinations is significantly reduced
UNSW benefited from a strengthened reputation for innovation and excellence
The smart use of technology enabled UNSW Medicine to increase productivity and efficiency two-fold across departments