Assessment: Student’s perspectives: A cross-sectional and questionnaire-based study

Abstract

Background: Assessment is the most important factor which affect student’s learning behavior. It has been seen that the things which are not assessed have not been read by the students usually. Mainly two types of assessments are there: (1) Summative assessment, which is taken to assign grades to the students and (2) formative assessment, it is considered more important than summative assessment, because feedback to the learner is given after this. Moreover, it is the feedback which stimulates further improvement in learners. Now-a-days the students do not take assessments seriously because their unclear perception regarding the same. Hence, the present questionnaire-based study has been conducted on 2nd-year undergraduate students for obtaining their views regarding assessment and depending on their answers, they will be guided to utilize it in constructive way for their betterment. Aims and Objectives: The aim of the study was to evaluate the student’s perspectives toward assessment. Materials and Methods: This questionnaire-based and cross sectional study has been conducted on 100 2nd-year undergraduate students after taking informed consent from them. Questionnaire in Google forms has been sent to their emails after explaining the purpose of the study. Results obtained have been analyzed and presented in counts and percentages. The Institutional Ethics Committee approval has been taken before commencement of the study. Results: Students were aware about different assessments, but the purpose of the same was not clear to them. Around 63 (74.1%) students were in favor of frequent assessment, that is, they want assessment in every 1–3 months interval. The types of questions for examinations, most of them preferred multiple choice questions and short answer type of questions. Conclusion: The attitude of most of the students toward assessment system was found positive but they need guidance regarding proper use of it. There is immense need to put more effort to aware the students toward this.