Computer-based assessments have considerable potential in assessment. This study explores the perceptions of 500 post-graduate students, noting gender differences where appropriate, in relation to the role of computer applications in formative assessment. Using questionnaires and interviews, the data reveal that the student perceptions of the role…

Exams assessment is one of the most tedious work for university teachers all over the world. Multiple choice theses make exams assessment a little bit easier, but the teacher cannot prepare more than 3-4 variants; in this case, the possibility of students for cheating from one another becomes a risk for "objective assessment outcome." On…

Proponents of reframing argue that prophetic pragmatism entails redirecting contemporary education reforms. While this judgment may defend our professional standing, it overlooks the consequences of redirecting reform's appeals to global competition, which preclude public participation in defining the goals and measures of literacy education. This…

Polytomous items are typically described by multiple category-related parameters; situations, however, arise in which a single index is needed to describe an item's location along a latent trait continuum. Situations in which a single index would be needed include item selection in computerized adaptive testing or test assembly. Therefore single…

Open-ended tasks are common in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education. However, as far as we know, no tools have been developed to assist in the assessment of the solution process of open-ended questions. In this paper, we propose the use of analysis of traces as a tool to address this need. To illustrate this approach,…

This study analyzed design and technological issues encountered by online course instructors as they taught 120 online courses while working with a designated instructional designer. After developing the courses and their approval in compliance with a set, standardized rubric, the implementation of the 120 courses brought out issues that required…

Causal sequences can be segmented into cause and effect. However, some argue causal relations in discourse are by default in "effect-cause" order. Others claim "cause-effect" order is easier to process and the default way of expressing causality, due to iconicity. We conducted experiments testing participants' production…

The divisibility of the reading has led many researchers to examine whether reading construct is a unitary skill that cannot be divided into separate sub-skills, or it is composed of underlying components. In these studies, however, participants have generally been located in a product-oriented testing environment where their actual reading…

Historically, the implementation of research-based assessments (RBAs) has been a driver of educational change within physics and helped motivate adoption of interactive engagement pedagogies. Until recently, RBAs were given to students exclusively on paper and in class; however, this approach has important drawbacks including decentralized data…

Using game-based learning strategies, such as quiz-style PowerPoint games as an e-learning and teaching pedagogy can make a positive impact on how students learn, how they process and retain information, and how they interact with digital media. However, little is known about their impact on students' information literacy development. This…

This paper presents an innovative method to tackle the automatic evaluation of programming assignments with an approach based on well-founded assessment theories (Classical Test Theory (CTT) and Item Response Theory (IRT)) instead of heuristic assessment as in other systems. CTT and/or IRT are used to grade the results of different items of…

In this research report, we describe the design and empirical findings for a large-scale study of essay writing ability with approximately 2,500 high school students in Germany and Switzerland on the basis of 2 tasks with 2 associated prompts, each from a standardized writing assessment whose scoring involved both human and automated components.…

Many assessments of writing proficiency that aid in making high-stakes decisions consist of several essay tasks evaluated by a combination of human holistic scores and computer-generated scores for essay features such as the rate of grammatical errors per word. Under typical conditions, a summary writing score is provided by a linear combination…

The paper reports the results of a phenomenographic study on academics' conceptions of e-assessment. A cohort of 21 academics from 17 disciplines participated in semi-structured interviews exploring their experiences of using web-based technologies for formative and summative assessment purposes. Through iterative analysis of the interview…

Critical thinking, problem solving and communication are fundamental elements of undergraduate education, but methods for assessing these skills across an institution are susceptible to logistical, motivational and financial issues. Queen's University conducted two research studies investigating the use of standardised tests to assess cognitive…