Over the last decade, larger student numbers, reduced resources and increasing use of new technologies have led to the increased use of multiple-choice questions (MCQs) as a method of assessment in higher education courses. This paper identifies some limitations associated with MCQs from a pedagogical standpoint. It then provides an assessment…

This paper reports the results of a study into the quality of peer feedback provided by students within a computerised peer-assessment environment. The study looks at the creation of a "feedback index" that represents the quality of an essay based upon the feedback provided during a peer-marking process and identifies a significant…

Technology-mediated instruction is changing the educational environment by adding another dimension to teaching and learning. Despite the advances in technology and the way we use technology, little attention has been given to providing technology solutions that help create, conduct, and manage the central task of assessment. Software to manage…

This paper describes a new ICT assessment tool that reduces multihandling of marks, comments and scores specifically where professional judgement is involved. Whereas previous ICT applications in most fields of education have focused on student learning, this tool focuses on the lecturer task of the assessment process. Unlike many ICT based…

This paper reviews the role of ICT-based assessment in the light of the growing use of virtual learning environments in universities. Issues of validity, efficiency, type of response, and scoring are addressed. A major area of research is the automated scoring of text. Claims for automated formative assessment are queried, since the feedback of…

The World Wide Web influences education and our lives in many ways. Nowadays, Web-based homework has been becoming widespread practice in physics courses and some other courses as well. Although are some disputes whether this is an encouraging or risky development for student learning, there is limited research assessing the pedagogical effect of…

This paper considers efforts made in evaluating a distance-learning course, which was intended to prepare students for working on an undergraduate dissertation in business and economic areas. Course delivery had stressed a tutorial approach with an emphasis on individual mentor-student exchanges. Given the nature of the learning approach and the…

The development of e-learning has opened up new opportunities for innovation in assessment practices in higher education. This descriptive case study draws upon staff and student experiences of teaching and learning on a web-based Masters programme in primary health care to explore how specific features of the online environment can be exploited…

Concerns about noncompletion and the quality of the 1st-year student experience have been linked to recent changes in higher education such as modularisation, increased class sizes, greater diversity in the student intake and reduced resources. Improving formative assessment and feedback processes is seen as one way of addressing academic failure,…

Student evaluation of instruction in college and university courses has been a routine and mandatory part of undergraduate and graduate education for some time. A major shortcoming of the process is that it often relies exclusively on the opinions or qualitative judgments of students rather than the learning or transfer of knowledge that takes…

This paper represents a brief case study of delivering online examinations to a worldwide audience. These examinations are delivered in partnership with a commercial online testing company as part of the Industry Master's degree at Charles Sturt University (CSU). The Industry Master's degree is an academic program for students currently employed…