When summative computer-aided assessments go wrong: disaster recovery after a major failure

This case study outlines the events of a recent summative computer‐aided assessment (CAA) failure involving 280 first‐year undergraduate students. Post‐test analysis found that the central server had become unexpectedly overloaded, thereby causing the CAA to be abandoned. Practical advice on just what to do in the event of a summative CAA failure is virtually non‐existent in the related literature. In response, this paper provides a detailed account of the post‐failure analysis and recovery activities from a practitioner's (ie, academic) viewpoint. Supported by empirical evidence, the research shows how the concept of “optional substitution” was developed as a pragmatic, equitable, and broadly acceptable solution to the problem.