ReView is a research project and product of the University of Technology, Sydney (UTS) developed by Darrall Thompson, Senior Lecturer and Director of Teaching and Learning at the UTS School of Design. The programmer and colleague on the project is Mike Howard programming in Flash and PHP with MySQL.

Users apart from UTS to date include: The University of Sydney, Queensland University of Technology, The University of Queensland, The University of New South Wales, Massey University.

Q1. Can ReView communicate with University systems such as Student One, Blackboard etc?
YES. The new version of ReView is now a web service and can have a Blackboard plugin as an added module. There are import scripts that can be configured to import university data supplied through a secure link.

Q2. Does ReView replace university assessment systems?
NO. ReView is a marking and feedback aid and should not be used as the official repository for marks. It is a system intended to focus students on their development of attributes over the duration of a program of study rather than focus on percentage marks and grades. However, Excel spreadsheets exported from ReViw can be used to populate university systems and there is a Blackboard plugin to populate the grade centre available as an extra feature.

Q3. Can ReView be accessed through Blackboard and connect to the Gradebook?
YES. The most popular way to access ReView is to add a button to the left side menu panel of Blackboard. ReView exports an Excel spreadsheet that can be imported to the Blackboard Gradebook and other systems such as Sedona and Digital Measures. There is also now a Blackboard plugin available as an extra module.

Q4. Are assessment criteria linked to Learning Goals?
YES. Each criteria can be numbered to refer back to learning goals on unit outlines. For example if there are a few criteria relating to Learning Goal 1, they would be numbered 1.1, 1.2, 1.3 etc. More importantly the criteria are directly linked to categories of graduate attributes through a colour-coding system.

Q5. How are attribute categories and grading scales changed?
Attribute categories and grading scales are part of the core configuration of ReView and input as part of the administor’s software setup process. These are usually defined by faculty or school policy.

Q6. What is the legal situation with assessment results provided by ReView, particularly as student marks are only official after Registrar’s approval?
A ReView student handout explains that ReView is a marking and feedback aid that assists students’ monitoring of their own graduate attribute development and does not replace official university assessment systems or processes. ReView does not actually display marks to students and therefore cannot be used in disputes over marks.

Q7. Does ReView allow benchmarking between Coordinators and Tutors?
YES. A coordinator can view individual tutors marks and comments for their groups. It is recommended that examples of student assignments are discussed prior to marking sessions with reference to each of the criteria.

Q8. If ReView does not display marks to students how do they receive them?
In order to encourage students to view the criteria-based feedback in ReView it is recommended that marks are issued through a gradebook or other official system 3 or 4 days after ReView feedback is published. This delay allows students to review grading sliders for each criteria and contact tutors or coordinators if they feel there is a serious discrepancy. The student self-assessment option prior to handing in assignments is an excellent feature that often neutralises assessment appeals.

Q9. Does ReView export pdfs?
NO. ReView exports Excel spreadsheets of weighted percentage results for coordinators that can be imported to Blackboard. The next version of ReView will provide pdf output of individual feedback for both staff or students.

Q10. Why is it important to use the student self assessment option in ReView?
Educational research infers that students’ learning is improved if they reflect on their own work against a set of well designed criteria relating to that work. The students’ self assessment also reveals to tutors marking an assignment the students view of the standard of their work, allowing them to make a comment where there is clearly a large discrepancy.

Q11. Can ReView keep records of multiple markers?
YES. Each tutor’s group can be viewed independently and the database records every movement of every mark by every tutor and coordinator.

Q12. Can ReView keep records of tutor comments?
YES. Each comment is stored and can be exported as an Excel spreadsheet.

Q13. Can academic staff mark offline?
YES. A printable marking sheet can be generated with all criteria and slider bars for marking and writing comments offline. This is then used to enter when online access is available.