Online assessments: Exploring perspectives of university students

Abstract

The United Arab Emirates is committed to integrating technology into higher education. In this study the researchers aim to explore the perspectives of university students on online assessments. An understanding of students' views can help identify obstacles and promotors in embracing online assessments at the undergraduate level. The social constructivist epistemology has been used in this qualitative study to understand students' preferences, apprehensions and acceptance of online assessments. Semistructured focus group discussions were carried out after recruiting 41 university students, using convenience and snowball sampling methods. Thematic content analysis was applied to the data. This study highlighted that students did not comprehend the need for online assessments. Concerns regarding technological incompetence of students and teachers alongside distrust in the technology infrastructure were stressed. Students felt online assessments were restrictive for the science courses and had resulted in falling grades; probably due to the increasing dependence on multiple choice questions. Students also expressed the importance of constructive, timely and personalized feedback. Students need to be convinced of the usefulness of the transition to online assessment before they agree with it. It is evident through this study that student acceptance would increase with a gradual transition towards online assessments alongside technological training for both students and faculty. Active individualized interaction with instructors is important to students, furthermore preferences and concerns emphasized by students should be addressed to successfully integrate online assessments into higher education.

Is Online Assessment in Higher Education Institutions during COVID-19 Pandemic Reliable?

“…9 In contrast, some studies argued that online assessments have negative impacts, mainly psychological stress to both teachers and students due to rigid technological settings, reduced personalised engagement with faculty 19 and negatively influence student's grades. 20,21 The factors that may influence students' scores and grades for online assessment involve the comparability of identical tests taken in different formats, students' level of preparedness for the mode of test and the quality of the test, 22 slow logins to test, delayed loading of a test, and inexperienced teachers. 21,23 The aspects that may increase acceptance for online assessments among students are students' accustomed to the format, high students' confidence in the system, 24 use of online formative assessments for practice before in-class tests 25 and technological adoptions.…”

“…20,21 The factors that may influence students' scores and grades for online assessment involve the comparability of identical tests taken in different formats, students' level of preparedness for the mode of test and the quality of the test, 22 slow logins to test, delayed loading of a test, and inexperienced teachers. 21,23 The aspects that may increase acceptance for online assessments among students are students' accustomed to the format, high students' confidence in the system, 24 use of online formative assessments for practice before in-class tests 25 and technological adoptions. 21,26 Recent study highlighted that students did not understand the necessity for online assessments due to technological incompetence of students and teachers, mistrust in the technology infrastructure and significant reliance on multiple-choice questions format.…”

“…21,23 The aspects that may increase acceptance for online assessments among students are students' accustomed to the format, high students' confidence in the system, 24 use of online formative assessments for practice before in-class tests 25 and technological adoptions. 21,26 Recent study highlighted that students did not understand the necessity for online assessments due to technological incompetence of students and teachers, mistrust in the technology infrastructure and significant reliance on multiple-choice questions format. The students preferred online assessments that provide constructive, timely and personalised feedback, as well as a gradual transition towards online assessments together with technical training for both students and faculty.…”

Unstable Education System Inducing Mental Stress in COVID-19 Lockdown

“…Fear of failure is already on a peak for the students and unawareness of the exams may accelerate the underperformance of the students. Teachers are even not spared by this challenge, which is equally a situation of worry for them [5]. Evaluating a large number of students remotely is itself a difficult work and doing it without a well-defined medium is knocking on their mental peace [6].…”

Regression Model for the Perception of Graduates on University’s Reputation

“…In the twenty-first century, information and communication technologies (ICT) can effectively assist higher education to improve the ways in which knowledge can be produced, managed, disseminated, accessed and controlled as specified in [3]. It was evident through the study done by [4] that student acceptance would increase with a gradual transition towards online assessments together with the technological training for both students and faculty. However, the most important reasons for pursuing higher education are career prospects, employability status and the reputation of the university.…”