Factors influencing student preference when comparing handwriting and typing for essay style examinations

Abstract

Trained initially as a maths teacher, Nora has worked extensively in technology enhanced learning, and specialises in technology-assisted assessment. Andrew Fluck is a teacher educator at the University of Tasmania. He has an interest in curriculum transformation through the use of computers, developed an eExam system for students to use their own computers in high stake assessment and serves on the executive of Working Group 3.3 (research into educational applications of information technologies) for IFIP/UNESCO. AbstractIt seems anachronistic that we expect students to handwrite essay examinations when almost all their other work is mediated by computer. Two universities, one in the UK and one in Australia, are exploring the use of computers in free text response examinations. This paper compares both the attitudes and the behaviours of their students concerning the use of computers in essay examinations, and contrasts the responses from the two cohorts. Most of the students have confidence in their typing skills and report typing as least as fast as they can handwrite. The analysis demonstrates that although students recognise that examination essays should have good structure and argument, when in the pressure of an examination, it is all too easy for them to be more concerned with the sheer amount of text they can write. BackgroundDespite the affordances of technology supported assessment, traditional hand written, human marked essay examinations remain widely used. Students should write in a scholarly manner, suitable to the language of their discipline, and the marker should value argument and critical thinking over volume of facts (Hounsell, 2005). Although automated marking continues to develop (ETS Research, 2013), marking university level scripts remains a human mediated task, and seems likely to remain so for some time. This does not mean, however, that there is no place for technology in university level long text examinations.For students with special circumstances of various types, technology can of course facilitate access to assessment (Nisbet, 2012). Thanks to increased computer power, Thurstone's (1927) comparative judgement technique can be used to support marking of essays and promises vast improvement in marking reliability (McAlpine, 2012). But just the simple act of empowering students to use a word processor in examinations, to edit and rearrange text, should help them to develop and refine their argument. The examiner of word-processed text also spared the task of deciphering spidery squiggles of handwriting.Given the ubiquity of technology, in education and also in the workplace, surely there is a need to allow students to routinely word process examination essays?

Adding authenticity to controlled conditions assessment: introduction of an online, open book, essay based exam

“…Student feedback provided after the exam suggested the longer timeframe provided the opportunity to better evidence and edit their work, improving the readability and professional quality of their submissions significantly. This seems to disagree with observations made by Mogey and Fluck (2015) who found in a comprehensive study of factors affecting student preferences to paper versus online exams that although students were aware of the importance of editing in structure, they seemed more concerned with the volume of text they could get down. Originally the longer duration of the exam was set to allow for variations in typing speed among the cohort, an impact on writing quality observed by Connelly, Dockrell, and Barnett (2005).…”

Secure E-Examination Systems Compared: Case Studies from Two Countries

“…Initial reports from Heidelberg indicate there are no systematic differences in achievement levels if candi-dates have a free choice of writing tool when answering an examination (Hochlehnert, Brass, Moeltner, & Juenger, 2011). Studies from Edinburgh suggest computer-using candidates have a slight advantage, with more complex language and higher word-counts observed (Mogey & Fluck, 2015;Mogey & Paterson, 2012).…”

What Can Screen Capture Reveal About Students’ Use of Software Tools When Undertaking a Paraphrasing Task?

“…The ongoing development of grammar/style and spelling checkers has prompted several scholars to revisit these tools and their pedagogic uses (Buck 2008, Figueredo and Varnhagen 2006, McGee and Ericsson 2002, Potter and Fuller 2008, Vernon 2000. Investigations which compare the processes of composing by hand or on a computer explore their respective effects on the cognitive process (Medimorec and Risko 2016), early writing outcomes (Wollscheid, Sjaastad and Tømte 2016), and the implications for time-constrained assessments (Hunsu 2015, Mogey and Fluck 2015, Whithaus, Harrison and Midyette 2008. While research in the latter field assumes a widespread familiarity with word-processing and the supersession of handwriting with keyboarding skills, it also acknowledges that not all students are equally comfortable composing on a computer.…”