See discussions, stats, and author profiles for this publication at: https://www.researchgate.

net/publication/318420641

Advantages and Challenges of Using E-assessment

Article  in  International Journal of Information and Education Technology · January 2018

CITATIONS READS

103 15,200

1 author:

Nuha Mohammed Alruwais

SEE PROFILE

Some of the authors of this publication are also working on these related projects:

University of Southampton (ECS) View project

All content following this page was uploaded by Nuha Mohammed Alruwais on 14 July 2017.

The user has requested enhancement of the downloaded file.

Advantages and Challenges of Using e-Assessment

 long-term [8].
Abstract—Information and communication technology (ICT) E-assessment can have different forms such as, automatic
has been involved in different sectors. ICT has an impact to administrative procedures, digitizing paper-based systems
improve learning environment and process. With the increasing
and online testing that includes multiple choice tests and
number of students and the limitation of placement, a new
innovation in learning is required. Thus, E-learning and assessment of problem solving skills [8]. Sitthisak et al. [9]
E-assessment have been introduced, to offer online courses and indicated that, E-assessment includes supporting the
electronic assessment. E-assessment enables the students live in assessment by using a computer for example: with web-based
remote areas to have the test in their homes, and helps the assessment tools.
teacher to correct the exam and release the marks in short time. However, Reju and Adesina [10] clarify that E-assessment
This paper explains the meaning of E-assessment from different
opinions and illustrates the cycle of E-assessment process. comprises the end-to-end electronic assessment procedures.
Moreover, this paper discusses the advantages and obstacles of This is confirmed by PingSoft [11], in their explanation that
using E-assessment in learning for different domains: student, the design of the system includes a complete examination
teacher, institution, and in education aims. process comprising the proposition, composing papers,
signing up, examining, batching, statistics and analysis.
Index Terms—E-assessment, e-exam, electronic exam, online
Moreover, JISC [4] defined E-assessment as the end-to-end
exam, online assessment.
electronic assessment process, that ICT (Information
Communication Technology) is used for the whole
I. INTRODUCTION assessment processes from the presentation of questions to
the saving of the leaners responses.
ICT (Information and Communication Technology) has
Most of the studies agree that E-assessment is an electronic
been an assistance tool in education for a long time. The use
assessment, in which all the assessment procedures from the
of technology in assessment began in the 1920s’, when
start to the end of assessment should be carried out
Sidney L. Presses designed a machines for automatic testing
[1]. Moreover, at the same time the schools started to use electronically. This means that the design, test
standardized assessment, and automatic scoring technology, implementation, recording the response and providing the
which helped to make a large-scale testing convenient and feedback are all completed using ICT.
cost-effective [2]. Whitelock et al. [12] clarify how E-assessment can work
A massive change in many sectors, especially in education, by providing cycles of the process (Fig. 1). They claim that
occurred when the World Wide Web was introduced in the this framework enables educationalists to address the barriers
1990’s [3]. From that time onwards, many companies and the cultural debate surrounding E-assessment strategies.
introduced their own E-assessment system. In England, They point out that motivation is the main point that drives
Wales and Northern Ireland principles and guidance for the application, thus, it is the first step in the cycle. They
E-assessment were introduced by JISC (Joint Information emphasize that motivation is a crucial stage in assessment.
System Committee) to clarify the different qualifications The next stage is, the design of the assessment, and then the
regulators in United Kingdom [4]. creation phase. After that, the students commence the test
In 2009 IMS Global Learning Consortium produced IMS and when they have finished the outcomes are delivered.
Question and Test interoperability Specification [5]. In 2009 Later, the data is processed and the feedback is gained. Next,
Cisco, Intel and Microsoft produced Transforming Education: there is evaluation of the outcomes and a review of the
Assessing and Teaching 21st Century Skills [6]. feedback. After this last step, the cycle moves back to the
design and creation steps; thus, the testing, data retrieval or
evaluation outcomes, depending on the outcomes and
II. E-ASSESSMENT feedback to enhance the assessment and feedback in order to
Since e-learning and e-assessment have been introduced meet the aims of course and reach the desired outcomes.
the learning process has developed. E-assessment has
enhanced the measurement of learner outcomes and made it
III. THE ADVANTAGES OF USINF E-ASSESSMENT
possible for them to obtain immediate and direct feedback
[7]. It is essential to create a system to assess students, which Universities adopted e-assessment, in order to obtain
take into account the educational goals and help students to develop, accurate and faster method to assess students, rather
develop their skills which will be a useful for the society for than traditional measure (paper-test). This section presents
the advantages of using e-assessment in different domain:
Manuscript received January 23, 2017; revised March 22, 2017. student, teacher, institution, and in education aims.
The authors are with University of Southampton, UK (e-mail:
[email protected], [email protected], [email protected]). A. Student

doi: 10.18178/ijiet.2018.8.1.1008 34
 International Journal of Information and Education Technology, Vol. 8, No. 1, January 2018

Students prefer E-assessment, because they can have more E-assessment helps the teacher to improve the quality of
control, friendly interfaces and test as games and simulations, feedback for the students [8], [16]. E-assessment enable the
which resemble learning environment and recreational teacher to track the students’ performance and make analysis
activities [8]. It is, also, fast and easy to use [13], [14]. across many assessment [23]. The direct feedback from
E-assessment provides immediate feedback comparing with E-assessment allows the teacher to find the misconceptions,
paper test, which helps to improve the learning level [7], [8], which are not clear for the students and solve it out before the
[15], [16]. According to study in Glamorgan University and final exam [23]. Using E-assessment can reduce the teachers’
Leeds Metropolitan University E-assessment can improve burden to assess large student number [24].
the student performance [7]. Since, it increases the students
C. Institution
motivation to enhance their performance (study in University
of Winchester) [17]. Furthermore, It helps the students in Increasing the number of students, which increase the
remote area to learn and assess in their locations and it can demand of fast and accurate method for assessment [8], [16].
take it any time, which provide flexibility for students to have Also, university need a timely results to arrange for places for
the exams [8], [16], [18] . appropriate qualified applicants, this can accrue easily using
E-assessment [8]. Moreover, using E-assessment decrease
the cost for institution to assess student, as the time is reduced
[7], [8], [15], [16], [19], [21], [22]. Furthermore,
E-assessment has its own set of security, which providing the
questions and unable the student to copy the questions, also,
it includes checking identification and password verification
to ensure the identity of student [13], [15]. it assists to reduce
student cheating by providing different question in different
order [13].
D. Educational Aims
E-assessment supports educational goals, by supporting
high-order thinking skills such as critiquing, reflection on
cognitive processes and facilitate group work projects [8].
Also, it support the new educational goals, that focused on
problem solving using mathematics, science and supported
by information technology, for instant understanding and
presenting the problem, especially in mathematical and
scientific literacy [8]. E-assessment has the ability to sort
question which cannot create it using the paper test for
example software simulation, it helps to represent the
information in simple and fast way [8], [13]. Moreover, it
provides more accurate results than paper test, by adaptive
Fig. 1. Whitelock et al. 2006. testing, which change the difficulty of the test depend on the
user response, by increasing the difficulty if he/she response
Regarding the students opinion about E-assessment, one of correctly and decrease the difficulty if he/she chose the
the study conducted using a survey that 88.4% of student wrong answer [8].
prefer E-assessment [19]. Also, Llamas-Nistal et al. [3] study
found that 43 of students out of 52 choose online evaluation
rather than traditional evaluation. Moreover, a survey in IV. E-ASSESSMENT CHALLENGES
Jorden University (JU) and Zayed University (ZU) Implementation of E-assessment in higher education could
conducted that 59% from JU and 50% from ZU preferred face some challenges. Different studies have investigated
online exams, while 21% from JU and 43% from ZU liked about these challenges and suggested solutions:
traditional exams [20]. The Sorensen [21] study indicated  Inexperienced student with computer or with the online
that student feel that e-assessment play a role in higher assessment process [16], [19]. Students need a training at
education and it adds a value to their learning. In the the beginning to be familiar with E-assessment [16].
University of New South Wales a survey conducted that 92%  Accessibility of computer and internet [15], [16]. As
of the students approved that E-assessment helped their solution for this problem, the universities should provide
learning [7]. a labs with fully equipment and internet access for those
B. Teacher student.
 Poor technical infrastructure development, especially in
The paper test consumes time from teacher to correct each
poor countries for instant Nigeria [16]. The government
paper, but using E-assessment will save the teacher time [7],
should provide fully equipment to set up and run
[8], [14], [15], [19], [21], [22], for example, in Leeds
E-assessment system.
Metropolitan University research they found that
 Ridgway et al. [8] discussed the difficulty in scoring and
E-assessment saved up to £3000 per cohort in staff time. Also,

35
 International Journal of Information and Education Technology, Vol. 8, No. 1, January 2018

correcting questions with student open response such as [7] L. Gilbert, D. Whitelock, and V. Gale, “Synthesis report on assessment
and feedback with technology enhancement,” Southampton, 2011.
explain things. He illustrated some solutions. The success [8] J. Ridgway, S. McCusker, and D. Pead, “Literature review of
one is comparing the correlation between computer and e-assessment,” Bristol, 2004.
human judges, and the correlation between the scores of [9] O. Sitthisak, L. Gilbert, and H. C. Davis, “An evaluation of
pedagogically informed parameterised questions for self‐assessment,”
two human judges. Moreover, the computer will be
Learn. Media Technol., vol. 33, no. 3, pp. 235–248, Sep. 2008.
appropriate for questions that well defined answers such [10] S. A. Reju and A. Adesina, “Fundamentals of on-line examinations,”
as short answer question [8]. Mitchell et al. [25] provided presented at a Training Workshop for Academic Staff on On-line
an example in Dundee Medical School, where the Examination System in National Open University of Nigeria, at the
Model Study Centre Computer Laboratory, 2009.
responses of exams in the school are well defined for each [11] PingSoft, “Hyper author e-examination system,” 2007.
questions in the exams, using computer correlation. They [12] D. Whitelock, C.  Reudel, and D. Mackenzie, “E-assessment : Case
found that Human scoring time significantly decreased studies of effective and innovative practice a JISC,” Jt. Inf. Syst.
Comm., p. 184, 2006.
and staff reported that questions quality type improved [13] D. Peterson, “Five steps to better tests,” 2013.
and rewrite question that can determine student [14] M. Eljinini and S. Alsamarai, “The impact of e-assessments system on
misconceptions [25]. the success of the implementation process,” Mod. Educ. Comput. Sci.,
vol. 4, no. 11, pp. 76–84, Dec. 2012.
 Assessing group project is a difficult job. It needs a [15] T. B. Crews and D. F. Curtis, “Online course evaluations : Faculty
monitor of the communication skills, evaluate the group perspective and strategies for improved response rates,” Assessment &
work, assess each member and the whole group, and Evalution in Higher Education, vol. 36, no. 7. Routledge, pp. 965–878,
2010.
provide a feedback. It is hard to use computer in this task. [16] A. Way, “The use of e-assessments in the Nigerian higher education
However, SPARK (Self Peer Assessment Resource Kit) system,” Turkish Online J. Distance Educ., vol. 13, no. 1, pp. 140–152,
is an academic open source project that designed to 2012.
support the evaluation of effective group work, which has [17] P. Marriott, “Students’ evaluation of the use of online summative
assessment on an undergraduate financial accounting module,” Br. J.
been used in many universities in different contexts [8]. Educ. Technol., vol. 40, no. 2, pp. 237–254, Mar. 2009.
 Some teachers unfamiliar with technology, or most of [18] J. B. Williams and A. Wong, “The efficacy of final examinations: A
them use E-assessment for first time. Therefore, teachers comparative study of closed-book, invigilated exams and open-book,
open-web exams,” Br. J. Educ. Technol., vol. 40, no. 2, pp. 227–236,
need a training to be confident for using E-assessment Mar. 2009.
system [8], [26]. [19] J. Donovan, C. Mader, and J. Shinsky, “Online vs. traditional course
evaluation formats: Student perceptions,” J. Interact. Online Learn.,
vol. 6, pp. 158–180, 2007.
[20] A. Tubaishat and E. El-qawasmeh, “ICT experiences in two different
V. CONCLUSION middle eastern universities,” Issues Informing Sci. Inf. Technol., vol. 3,
pp. 667–678, 2006.
This paper points to the benefits and obstacles of using [21] E. Sorensen, “Implementation and student perceptions of e-assessment
E-assessment in learning from different domains: student, in a chemical engineering module,” Eur. J. Eng. Educ., vol. 38, no. 2,
teacher, institution and educational aims. The main pp. 172–185, Jan. 2013.
advantages of using E-assessment are: providing direct and [22] J. W. Gikandi, D. Morrow, and N. E. Davis, “Online formative
assessment in higher education: A review of the literature,” Comput.
immediate feedback for student, improving student Educ., vol. 57, no. 4, pp. 2333–2351, Dec. 2011.
performance, reducing the time and effort of the teacher, [23] R. Ellaway and K. E. N. Masters, “AMEE guide AMEE guide 32 :
decreasing the cost for the institution, and encouraging E-learning in medical education part 1 : Learning, teaching and
assessment,” Med. Teach., vol. 30, no. January, pp. 455–73, 2008.
high-order thinking, which is one of the educational aims. [24] D. Nicol, “E‐assessment by design: Using multiple‐choice tests to good
E-assessment faced some challenges such as: poor technical effect,” J. Furth. High. Educ., vol. 31, no. March 2015, pp. 53–64,
infrastructure and unfamiliar student with computer. 2007.
[25] T. Mitchell, N. Aldridge, W. Williamson, and P. Broomhead,
“Computer based testing of medical knowledge,” presented at the 7th
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Computer Assisted Assessment Conference, 2003.
This research supported by University of Southampton, [26] S. Jordan and T. Mitchell, “E-assessment for learning? The potential of
short-answer free-text questions with tailored feedback,” Br. J. Educ.
and the Fundamental Research Funds for Ministry of Higher Technol., vol. 40, no. 2, pp. 371–385, Mar. 2009.
Education in Saudi Arabia. Their support and consideration
are highly appreciated. Nuha Alruwais is a PhD student in electronics and computer science at
University of Southampton, UK and lecturer assistance in King Saud
University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. She received her B.Sc. degree in
REFERENCES computer science from King Saud University, and her M.A degree in
[1] B. F. Skinner, “Teaching machines,” Science., vol. 128, no. 3330, pp. information system from University of Sydney.
969–977, 1958.
[2] B. Audette, “Beyond curriculum alignment: How one high school is Gary Wills is an associate professor in computer science at University of
using student assessment data to drive curriculum and instruction Southampton, UK. He graduated from the University of Southampton with
decision making,” no. 2001, 2005. an honors degree in electromechanical engineering, and then a PhD in
[3] M. Llamas-Nistal, M. J. Fernández-Iglesias, J. González-Tato, and F. a. industrial hypermedia systems. He is a chartered engineer, a member of the
Mikic-Fonte, “Blended e-assessment: Migrating classical exams to the Institute of Engineering Technology and a principal fellow of the Higher
digital world,” Comput. Educ., vol. 62, pp. 72–87, Mar. 2013. Educational Academy. He is also a visiting associate professor at the
[4] Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC), “Effective practice with University of Cape Town and a research professor at RLabs.
e-assessment,” 2007.
[5] G. L. Consortium. (2008). IMS question & test interoperability Mike Wald is a professor in University of Southampton, UK. He leads
specification. [Online]. Available: http://www.imsglobal.org/question/. research into accessible technologies in the Web and Internet Science
[Accessed: 10-Feb-2015]. Research Group, ECS and has advised HEFCE, JISC, BECTA and
[6] R. Kozma, “Transforming education: Assessing and teaching 21st universities on enhancing learning through the use of technologies. He
century skills,” Transit. to Comput. Assess., no. 13, pp. 13–23, 2009. established the University's MSc in computer based learning and Centre for
Enabling and Learning Technologies (CELT) in 1994 and was involved in

36
 International Journal of Information and Education Technology, Vol. 8, No. 1, January 2018

the establishment of the University's Disability and Assistive Technology organizations (e.g. IBM, Nuance) and is investigating how speech
Services. He is a founder member of the International Liberated Learning recognition can make teaching and learning more accessible.
Consortium that includes other leading universities (e.g. MIT) and

37

View publication stats