Abstract
For many HE institutions, a major factor inhibiting the wider deployment of computer-based objective assessment is the lack of suitable IT suites. The advent of pervasive wifi within HE campus environments, combined with the development of portable and low-cost browser-based devices, motivates the question of whether existing teaching spaces can be used as venues for computer-based assessment. This work describes the results of a pilot study aimed at investigating some of the technical and logistical issues surrounding this question and evaluating student perceptions of this particular implementation of an educational technology.
Highlights
Objective testing, which requires students to provide a response to a question whose correct answer is predetermined, is well-suited to forms of computerbased assessment that incorporate automated marking
We investigated: their suitability as a secure platform for testing students; their compatibility with delivering Moodle-based tests; the administrative overheads involved in switching between an "exam mode" and a "classroom mode"; wireless infrastructure requirements; and logistical issues
Within a suitably equipped wireless infrastructure, web thin clients can be used to create flexible assessment spaces
Summary
Objective testing, which requires students to provide a response to a question whose correct answer is predetermined, is well-suited to forms of computerbased assessment that incorporate automated marking. With online tests students can receive immediate feedback on their performance, regardless of class size For these and other reasons, in recent years many teachers in higher education have increasingly experimented with delivering computer-based objective assessments [1]. Such testing plays an obvious role in summative assessment [2], but online tests as a type of e-learning can be used in purely formative contexts [3] or as a combination of formative with summative [4]. The advent of pervasive wifi within HE campus environments, combined with the development of portable, low-cost, browser-based devices, suggests the possibility of transforming an existing teaching space into a venue that is appropriate for the delivery of computerbased assessment activities. In this paper we describe the results of a small-scale project that aimed to evaluate some of the technical, logistical and usability issues surrounding this possibility
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