The effectiveness and challenges of online assessment using Interactive Teaching and Learning (ITEL) Platform in Nursing Education: A cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Assessment is a crucial aspect of teaching and learning. Due to COVID-19, most assessments were changed to online mode. This sudden transition from traditional face-to-face to online assessment presented numerous challenges for nursing students. As such, this study determined student's perception of online assessment usage for their final semester exam using Interactive Teaching and Learning (ITEL) as their learning management system. Methods: This study used a cross-sectional survey design, with the questionnaire administered via Google Forms. A purposive sampling method was employed to collect data from 165 undergraduate nursing students. The survey link was shared through WhatsApp's instant messaging system. Descriptive statistics were used to analyse the data. Results: The students believed online assessment is helpful in higher education (61.8%). However, only 46% of the respondents consider online assessment relevant to nursing education. Most (54.6%) find nursing education too complicated for online exams. In addition, most respondents (70.9%) are apprehensive about technical glitches that can challenge online assessment. As the method of online assessment, respondents prefer coursework or assignments over written tests (50.9%). The findings also highlighted that the ITEL quiz questions mainly focused on memorising the assessed content (56.4%). However, the students found immediate feedback in the ITEL quiz helpful in the learning process (50.3%). Conclusion: Using less paper and accessing immediate feedback from anywhere is convenient, but there have been some technological issues. Unfortunately, nursing students still hesitate to embrace online assessments due to fears of technical difficulties during exams. Respondents prefer online assessments for formative assessments, while traditional face-to-face exams are preferred for summative assessments. Considering strategies to improve hybrid assessment practices in the post-pandemic era is important.