Abstract:

In conservation and restoration of cultural property studies, work and assessment have always been carried out in ways which require the students’ physical presence in the classroom. On-line assessment is not customary practice in this field. This paper gives an account of the last six years’ experience in ‘The stratigraphic study of painting heritage’, a subject within the two-year master course ‘Conservation and Restoration of Cultural Property’ (Official Postgraduate Program ‘Science & Conservation of Historical and Artistic Heritage’, Universitat Politècnica de València).

Both on-line and in-class assessments are used in combination, thereby allowing classroom activities, carried out in small groups, together with individually evaluated on-line activities, to form the core of assessment. On-line assessment is carried out through the Poliformat platform (based on the Sakai environment). The actual learning process takes place through the activities, organized in twenty tests, of different kinds, which enable the students to work from lower-order to higher-level skills, following Bloom’s taxonomy.

From information based on student testimonies and observations, this paper shows that the students’ opinion concerning this particular method of assessment has indeed been very positive. Students especially appreciate the fact that the summative assessment forms an important part of the learning process. In this subject, formative and summative assessments are not separated. The advantages and limitations of this work method are explained.

Keywords:

Master, activities, on-line assessment, summative assessment, active learning, Sakai, Poliformat.