Abstract
The study examined the impact of coursework-only assessment, as made necessary at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, adopting a quantitative research approach with 1013 students. The data obtained were analysed using SPSS version 27.0 to obtain descriptive and inferential statistics. The results revealed significant differences between the 2019- and 2020 marks for the same courses. In two of the science courses (T2 and T3), the mean scores for 2019 were significantly higher than the mean scores for 2020. In the mathematics course, the 2020 marks were significantly higher than the marks for 2019. While a normal distribution was assumed for the science courses, the mathematic course showed marks that were skewed to the right. A higher number of distinctions in the F1 course and a significant decline in the mean scores for T1 and T2 implies that there is a need for professional development of lecturers teaching in the online space. It is, therefore, recommended that higher education lecturers need adequate professional development on setting and administering online assessments. The assessment should test adequate lower- and higher-order cognitive skills for sufficient testing of student knowledge during online assessments. Furthermore, a variety of assessment methods and a diversity of tasks may be used to ensure the reliability of the assessment outcomes.
Highlights
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic brought several challenges to the teaching and learning fraternity
In 2019, the students were assessed using the coursework marks obtained through mini-assessment tasks during the term, and an examination that students wrote at the end of the semester
A Mann-Whitney test indicated that this difference was statistically significant, U(N2020mark = 260, N2019mark = 260) = 7478.00, z = -15.24, p < 0.00 (Table 7). Both 2019 and 2020 results for the T1 to T3 courses and FI course results for 2019 indicate clear discrimination and a good distribution of students’ marks with few student scores in the extremes, and the majority (60-69%) of the scores clustered around the mean
Summary
The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic brought several challenges to the teaching and learning fraternity. The coronavirus pandemic brought abrupt changes in instructional practices as well as assessment methods. Guangul, Suhail, Khalit, and Khidhir (2020) observed challenges of academic dishonesty, coverage of learning outcomes and lack of commitment by students to submit assessment tasks. Mafugu (2020) noted challenges of poor attendance as well as network challenges resulting in posting PowerPoint presentations with audio. Monitoring the learning process after posting the audio was not possible. Poor attendance and failure to interact with the learning material has a significant impact on the assessment outcome
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