The online examinations at Universitas Terbuka: an innovation diffusion viewpoint

Abstract

Purpose-The purpose of this paper is to provide insight into the students' adoption rate of the online examinations at Universitas Terbuka (UT), which is a hotbed of technological innovation in higher education, by analyzing the students' adoption rate of the online examinations related to their academic factors (program of study, GPA, credit earned), socioeconomic status (age, sex, marital status, employment status), and residential factor. Design/methodology/approach-This is an in-depth case study of 1,540 first-year students for the period ranging from the start of the second semester of 2013 to the first semester of 2016 at Bengkulu Regional Office of UT. During the term, quantitative data were set up with ordinal regression to measure the extent to which the adoption rate categories were influenced by such demographic characteristics as academic attainment, personal background, and current residence. Findings-The results showed that while the program of study, grade point average, credits earned, sex, and residence had systematic effects on adopter categories, employment and marital status did not. The highlights of the results were that students with GPA less than or equal to 2.9 were 2.02 times likely to fall into a higher adopter category as compared to those with GPA above 2.9, and students residing in city were 2.50 times more likely to hit the higher levels of adopter category, compared to those residing outside city. Research limitations/implications-As this is a case study of the students enrolled in the second semester of 2013 and because there has been a rapid change in the way people access information technology, further work should be done, in particular on the sample of students who have enrolled lately. Practical implications-The institution of open and distance learning (ODL) should accelerate the introduction of new learning resources based on diffusion of innovation modeling. Social implications-It is also recommended to especially encourage the new students of ODL to have a feeling of easiness and self-confidence regarding online examinations, and understand their importance. To achieve this objective, regional office staffs can guide the students to try out the online examination in the orientation study activities for new students. Originality/value-Despite the extensive research on diffusion model for the past decades, this field of study has much more to offer in terms of describing and incorporating such current innovation as an online examination in ODL platforms with which to associate students' academic and demographic profiles.

A study on perception of teachers and students toward online classes in Dakshina Kannada and Udupi District

“…There are many researches explains that the limitations of online classes, which say that online classes are convenient, less costly and easy to access, so these factors made differences between online learning and face-to-face learning many students who are successful in the traditional classroom (Kebritchi et al, 2017) are not equally as successful in an online class (Cheung and Kan, 2002;Tucker, 2001). In fact, students with a GPA score of less than 2.9 succeeded more in an online class than students with GPA scores of more than 2.9 (Sugilar, 2017). Many students believed that degrees obtained through online classes are not valid as much as a traditional method of classroom teaching.…”