CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Background to the Problem

CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Background to the Problem One of the principal pillars in the Government of Nigeria vision is to create an educated and informed nation, using amongst other means, modern information and communication technologies (ICT) to provide access and increase the quality and relevance of tertiary education in a growing global information era. The goal is easier to implement as ICT and the Internet has developed rapidly as a potential for online course delivery platform and is relatively affordable and user-friendly. Many universities are embracing the technology and those institutions which seem slow in adopting the method may be left behind in the race for globalization, internationalization of higher education and technological development (Volery and Lord, 2000). The rapid change in our entire life influences directly or indirectly the systems that controls our knowledge, skills and behaviour. The evolution of our culture is one of the major indicators for this change. Our educational system has been influenced by this rapid change over time and technology is increasingly used in learning settings. Assessment as a part of the educational system is exposed to the same changes. Using computers to assist assessment task has been an interesting research topic for decades. However, developments have mainly transferred traditional assessment approaches into computer environments, in order to automatically grade students‟ 1 assignments, this types of assessment approaches have been further limited (Elliot 2008). Consequently, the rapid increase of using technology in learning settings expedites also the need for new technology-based assessment. Our life has been influenced by a revolution in the field of information and technology. As a result, peoples‟ mentality has changed significantly in the recent years and pedagogy has become affected and educationalists have also started redesigning educational systems (Prensky, 2001). Learning is no more divided there is no separation between schools‟ education and workplace experience. This is because students are exposed to computer knowledge and the use of Internet facilities to facilitate teaching and learning have bridged the gap between the school and the world at large. Acquiring knowledge is a continuous learning process. According to Jegede (2005), Learning is a continuous process over lifetime, it is a lifelong process. Therefore a new paradigm for assessment in lifelong learning is becoming important. Changing education from memorizing facts to higher levels of comprehension and synthesis requires building and assessing critical-thinking skills. According to Hayes, (1999), measuring knowledge is important but is not enough. The term e-assessment is a broadly-based one, covering a range of activities in which digital technologies are used in assessment. Such activities include the designing and delivery of assessments, marking – by computers, or humans assisted by scanners and online tools – and all processes of reporting, storing and transferring of data associated with public and internal assessments. e-Assessment is the end-to-end 2 electronic assessment processes where ICT is used for the presentation of assessment activity, and the recording of responses. This includes the end-to-end assessment process from the perspective of learners, tutors, learning establishments, awarding bodies and regulators, and the general public (JISC/QCA, 2009) E−Assessment is often seen as providing a partial solution to providing assessment for increasing numbers of students and declining staff to student ratios (Sim, Holifield, and Brown, 2004). E-assessment can be distinguished as Computer Based Assessment (CBA) and Computer Assisted Assessment (CAA) which are often used interchangeably and somewhat inconsistently. CBA can be understood as the interaction between the student and computer during the assessment process. In such assessment, the test delivery and feedback provision is done by the computer. Where CAA is more general, it covers the whole process of assessment involving test marking, analysis and reporting Charman & Elms, (1998). The assessment lifecycle includes the following tasks: planning, discussion, consensus building, reflection, measuring, analyzing, and improving based on the data and artifacts gathered about a learning objective (Martell & Calderon, 2005). Ayo, Akinyemi, Adebiyi and Ekong (2007), also define e-examination as a system that involves the conduct of examinations through the web or the intranet. Though the definition of Wikipedia is that of e-assessment, it is related to eexamination. E-assessment in its broadest sense is the use of information technology for any assessment related activity. The origin of e-examination would naturally be traced to the further deployment of the potentials of the Internet and the intranet. El 3 Emary and Al Sondos (2006) state that schools around the world establish connections to the Internet and teachers and students gain proficiency with navigating through the vast quantity of readily available information, the true educational potential of the World Wide Web can finally begin to be understood. The Web can be a dynamic tool capable of assisting educators in propelling learning exciting and competing levels and of bringing education to any students, anywhere, at any time. One of the potentials of the web is the ability to conduct examination through electronic means. Many scholars have hinted on the advantages of the deployment of e-examination. Awosiyan (2010) quoting Prof. Olu Jegede, the Vice-Chancellor of NOUN, says that e-examination was introduced to address series of anomalies being encountered in the manual tests. He said that the e-examination would remove all human errors recorded in manual examination and create opportunity for students to access their results immediately. A series of studies do not focus on students' perceptions about a specific mode of assessment but more generally investigate students' perceptions about assessment. The study of Drew (2001) illustrates students' general perceptions about the value and purpose of assessment. Within the context of new modes of assessment, the Northumbria Assessment studies are often referred to. In these studies, different aspects of perceptions of students about new modes of assessment are elaborated upon the consequential validity of alternative assessment and its (perceived) fairness. 4 Student perceptions of the fairness of assessment, the issue of fairness, from the student perspective, is a fundamental aspect of assessment which is often overlooked or oversimplified by the staff. To students, the concept of fairness frequently embraces more than simply the possibility of cheating: it is an extremely complex and sophisticated concept which students use to articulate their perceptions of an assessment mechanism, and it relates closely to our notions of validity. Students repeatedly expressed the view that traditional assessment is an inaccurate measure of learning. Many made the point that end- point assessment or evaluations, particularly examinations which took place only on one day, were actually considerably down to luck, rather than accurately assessing present performance. Often students expressed concern that it was too easy to leave out large portions of the course material, when writing essays or taking exams, and still do well in terms of marks. Many students felt quite unable to exercise any degree of control within the context of the assessment of their own learning. Normal assessment was done to them, rather than something in which they could play an active role. In some cases, students believed that what exams actually measured was the quality of their lecturer's notes and handouts. Other reservations that students blanketed under the banner of 'unfairness', included whether you were fortunate enough to have a lot of practice in any particular assessment technique in comparison with your peers (Sambell, McDowell & Brown, 1997). 5 When discussing e-assessment, many students believed that success more fairly depended on consistent application and hard work, not a last minute burst of effort or sheer luck. Students use the concept of fairness to talk about whether, from their viewpoint, the e-assessment method in question rewards, that is, looks like it is going to attach marks to, the time and effort they have invested in what they perceive to be meaningful learning. E-assessment was fair because it was perceived as rewarding those who consistently make the effort to learn rather than those who rely on cramming or a last- minute effort. In addition, students often claimed that eassessment represents a marked improvement: firstly in terms of the quality of the feedback students expected to receive, and secondly, in terms of successfully communicating staff expectations. Many felt that openness and clarity were fundamental requirements of a fair and valid assessment system. There were some concerns about the e-assessment, even though students valued the activity (Sambell, McDowell & Brown, 1997). It can be concluded that students' perceptions of poor learning, lack of control, arbitrary and irrelevant tasks in relation to traditional assessment contrasted sharply with perceptions of high quality learning, active student participation, feedback opportunities and meaningful tasks in relation to e-assessment (Sambell, McDowell & Brown, 1997). University of Ilorin in its strategic plan deliberately adopted the use of ICT in the delivery of its academic programmes especially at undergraduate levels. The 6 rationale for the development and integration of educational technologies in eassessment at the University was to fast track two priority areas in the University‟s five year strategic plan being: Priority Area one: Expanding Access and Participation and Priority Area two: Enriching Quality Academic Programmes through the infusion of ICT in e-assessment. It is envisioned that the use of ICT based techniques will expand access and also enrich quality of academic programmes. To support ICT for assessment purposes at Unilorin, the executive management of the institution committed resources for the development and improvement of the learning and teaching environment. In the last 4 years, adoption of e-Assessment at Unilorin seems to be encouraging as shown by the increasing numbers of academic staff who have developed e-examination. There are, however, several issues and questions that need to be addressed. These include, but not limited to, students‟ perception of the technology; capital and running cost provision; system maintenance and availability; quality, standards and benchmarking; copyright, archiving and Curation of materials, and reward for developing online assessment. The rapid change in our entire life influences directly or indirectly the systems that controls our knowledge, skills and behaviour. The evolution of our culture is one of the major indicators for this change. Nigeria educational system has been influenced by this rapid change over the time and technology is increasingly used in learning settings. Assessment as a part of the educational system is exposed to the same changes. Specialists have been taken care to adapt the learning system with 7 culture changes in the society but unfortunately they have not properly focused on performance measures and feedback. Assessment research trying to keep pace with modern learning settings but still provides room for interesting and challenging research. Using computers to assist assessment task has been an interesting research topic for decades, however, developments have mainly transferred traditional assessment approaches into computer environments, in order to automatically grading students‟ assignments, types of assessment approaches have been further limited (Elliot 2008). Consequently, the rapid increase of using technology in learning settings expedites also the need for new technology-based assessment. Our life has been influenced by a revolution in the field of information and technology. As a result, peoples‟ mentality has changed significantly in the recent years. Consequently, pedagogy has become affected and educationalists have also started redesigning educational systems (Prensky, 2001). Learning is no more divided; there is no separation between schools‟ education and workplace experience, this is because students are expose to computer knowledge and the use of Internet facilities to facilitate teaching and learning have bridged the gap between the school and the world at large. According to Jegede (2005), learning is a continuous process over lifetime, it is a lifelong process. Therefore a new paradigm for assessment in lifelong learning is becoming important. Changing education from memorizing facts to higher levels of comprehension and synthesis requires building and assessing critical-thinking skills. 8 The academic programs should work on building and assessing students‟ criticalthinking skills. In general, assessment has different strategies according to its purposes. The two main basic types of these strategies are formative and summative assessment. Formative assessment is part of the learning process, this assessment is used to give feedback to both students and lecturers in order to guide their efforts toward achieving the goals of the learning process. Where, summative assessment is performed at the end of specific learning activity and used to judge the students progression and also to discriminate between them (Bransford, Brown and Cocking, 2000). According to Bennett, (2002), technology is an essential component of modern learning system. As a result, technology is also increasingly needed for the assessment process to be authentic. The issue of gender influnce on e-assessment perception has been of interest to researchers (Bebetos and Antonio, 2008; Kadel, 2005). Gender is liken to a social attributes and opportunity associated with being male and female and the mutual relationship. These attributes and relationships are socially constructed and are learned through socialization processes while technology development serves as forum for exploring the linkage between changing gender relations and technological development (Ewhrudjakpor, 2006). Statement of the problem While ICT has been effectively applied to almost all human endeavours such as banking, health, postal services and of course education or what is better known as eassessment there still remains a very big vaccuum to be filled in many areas especially 9 in the area of University education in Nigeria (Ayo, et.al 2007). The present information technology means of examining students is the use of electronic systems in place of manual or paper method which was characterized by massive examination leakages, impersonations, demand for gratification by teachers, bribe-taking by supervisors and invigilators of examinations. Today, e-assessment is being used in almost every human endeavours; employers are conducting aptitude tests for their job seekers through electronic means; the Universities and other tertiary institutions are registering and conducting electronic examination for their students through the Internet, intranet and other electronic and networking gadgets, various examination bodies in the country like the West Africa Examination Council (WAEC), National Examination Council (NECO), National Board for Technical Education (NABTEB), among others are now registering their students through electronic means, recently electronic examination has been widely adopted by nearly all the Nigeria Universities for post Unified Tertiary and Matriculation Examination (Post-UTME) otherwise called pre-admission screening, Olawale and Shafi‟i (2010). Richard and Thomas, (2008), worked on computer-mediated exams: student perceptions and performance. The results of their findings reveal that students believed the traditional pen-and-paper examination enhanced their performance while the computerized exam had a negative effect. 10 Olubiyi, (2010) carried out a research on perception of learners on electronic examination in open and distance learning institutions: a case study of national open university of Nigeria. The results of his finding revealed that the difference in students‟ perception lies on reduction of examination malpractice, wide coverage of the scheme of work, students‟ academic performance, age factor to the use of IT, and inadequate facilities. Tenson (1999), opined that Information and communication technology (ICT) for female users has been cited as an important factor in determining their attitude and anxieties towards its usage. Some studies carried out have found gender disparity in ICT achievement in favour of males (Ajunwa 2000; Awodeji, 1997, and so on). Others have found none (Anaekwe, 1997; Madu, 2004). Hence, gender differences in ICT perception are inconclusive. However, despite the fact that University of Ilorin has commenced eassessment examination since 2007/2008 academic session, there has not been any research work carried out to determine whether it is generally acceptable by the students across faculties and whether students‟ field of specialization has influence on their perception of the e-assessment platform. Hence this study seeks to find out students‟ perception on e-asessment in the University of Ilorin, Ilorin, Nigeria. Purpose of the Study The purpose of this study is to find out students‟ perception of e-assessement in the University of Ilorin. Specifically the study will seek to find out: 11 1. The perception of students in the University of Ilorin on e-Assessment. 2. The perception of male and female students in the University of Ilorin on eAssessment 3. The influence of students‟ area of specialization on their perception of eassessment. 4. The influence of e-assessment on students‟ perfomance in University of Ilorin. Research Questions In this study, answer would be sought for the following research questions: 1. How does student of University of Ilorin perceived e-assessment? 2. Do students‟ gender influence their perception of e-assessment? 3. Does students‟ area of specialization influence their perception of eassessment? 4. Does e-assessement influence students‟ performance in University of Ilorin? Research Hypotheses 1. There is no significant difference in the perception of male and female students‟ on e-assessment in University of Ilorin. 2. There is no significant difference in the perception of students accross Faculties. 12 Scope of the study This study shall be limited to perception of e-assessment by students in University of Ilorin. Students would be selected from Humanities and Science. A total of 500 students shall be selected from Humanities and Science to form the population for this study. Twenty five (25) male and female respondents shall be selected from each faculty for the study, while simple random sampling technique we be used to select the respondents. Significance of The Study The outcome of this study would be of use to lecturers, students, universities management, curriculum developers, school administrators, professional organization and researchers. Significantly, this study may create awareness to lecturers in the universities in Nigeria to know students‟ perception on e-assessment. The study would also help the universities to find out what has been the students contraint in the use of computer based test or any form of e-assessment and to also improve on their mode of setting question in e-assessment to measure the course contents. This study would also provide the universities with useful information on the level of ICT literacy of students hence, assisting them in trainning and retrainning of the lecturers to help teach the skill to their students. The outcome of this study could also be beneficial to various profesional bodies and trade unions such as Nigeria association for Educational Media and Technology (NAEMT), Science Teacher Association of Nigeria (STAN) Mathematics Association of 13 Nigeria (MAN) and Acedemic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) among others in the area of providing members wih necessary ICT infrastructures, research facilities and organising workshops and seminars to update their professional standard especially in the area of e-assessment. The study would provide curriculum developers with information on the advantages of e-assessment and enable them to formulate policy that would make e-assessment a way of assessing student. Finally, the findings of this study could eventually be a source of reference for all stakeholders in the area of educational processes and products for planning beffitting educational programmes for our nation in the nearest future. The study may provide researchers in all areas of study with the oppurtunity to access emperical evidence in their quest for futher studies on perception of students and lecturers of eassessment in Nigeria Universities. Clarification of Major Terms and Variables E-Assessment: e-Assessment is the use of computers and computer software to evaluate skills and knowledge in a certain area. It can range from on-screen testing systems that automatically mark learners' tests, to electronic portfolios where learners' work can be stored and marked. Perception: Perception is the process by which organisms interpret and organize sensation to produce a meaningful experience of the world. computer-based assessment (CBA) is used in this research work to refer to assessments delivered and marked by computer. 14 computer-assisted assessment (CAA) to refer to practice that relies in part on computers – for example, use of online discussion forums for peer-assessment, audience response systems in group work,completion and submission of work electronically, or storage of work in an e-portfolio. However, it should be noted that these terms are often viewed as interchangeable 15 CHAPTER TWO REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE The literature review for this study is discussed under the following headings: 1. History, nature and meaning of e-assesment 2. Students‟ perception on e-assessment 3. Methods of e-assessment 4. Merits and demerits of e-assessment 5. Influence of gender on the perception of e-assessment 6. Unilorin computer based test mode and authoring style 7. Appraisal of reviewed literature History, nature and meaning of e-assesment Assessment is not new to academia, with the roots of the current movement dating back over two decades (Martell & Calderon, 2005). But two decades hardly take us back to the origins of educational assessment in the United States. According to Pearson, Vyas, Sensale, and Kim (2001), assessment of student learning has been gaining and losing popularity for well over 150 years. In K-12 education, assessment first emerged in America in the 1840‟s, when an early pioneer of assessment, Horace 16 Mann, used standardized written examinations to measure learning in Massachusetts (Pearson, 2001). After losing momentum, the scientific movement of the 1920‟s propelled the use of large-scale testing as a means of assessing learning (Audette, 2005). The 1960‟s saw further support of standardized testing when the National Assessment of Educational Progress was formed, which produced the Nation‟s Report Card (Linn, 2002). But perhaps no initiative has had as broad and pervasive impact as the No Child Left Behind Act of 2001 (NCLB), which formally ushered us into an age of accountability. The NCLB act is a sweeping piece of legislation that requires regularly administered standardized testing to document student performance. The NCLB act is based on standards and outcomes, measuring results, and holding schools accountable for student learning (Audette, 2005). In 2006 Congress is required to reauthorize the Higher Education Act and it is predicted that NCLB will lead to changes in Higher Education Assessment requirements (Ewell & Steen, 2006). Assessment experts point to pioneers of the assessment movement, Alverno College and Northeast Missouri State University, which have both been committed for over three decades to outcomes-based instruction. Kruger and Heisser (1987) who evaluated the Northeast Missouri State University assessment program found that the variety of assessments and questionnaires employed as well as the use of a longitudinal database that provides multivariate analysis makes this institution an exemplar in the effective use of quality assessment to support sound decision making. 17 The oldest recognized undergraduate assessment program in the United States can be found at the University of Wisconsin which has reported on some form of student outcomes assessment continuously since 1900 (Urciuoli, 2005). The assessment movement is not limited to the United States. In the United Kingdom, the Higher Education Funding Council was established following the Further and Higher Education Act of 1992, requiring the assessment of quality education in funded institutions. In 2004, the Higher Education Act was passed with the goal of widening access to higher education as well as keeping UK institutions competitive in the global economy (Higher Education Funding Council for England, 2005). The history did not stop in the western world but continue in Nigeria for as a worldwide phenomenon, Open and Distance Education (ODE) has also become an acceptable mode of education in Africa and particularly in Nigeria (Adekanmbi, 2004). As far back as 1977, the idea of an open university has already reflected in the National Policy on Education as it states that: “maximum efforts will be made to enable those who can benefit from higher education to be given access to it. Such access may be through universities or correspondence courses, or open universities, or part-time and work study programme” (FRN, 1977,p6). It was this policy statement that paved way for the National Open University (NOU), the forerunner of the NOUN. After a prolonged debate in the National Assembly, an act establishing the Open University of Nigeria was passed. The NOU was formally established on 22nd July, 1983 but before it could take off, the act was suspended via a budgetary pronouncement made by General Muhamnmadu Buhari, the then military head of 18 state, on April 25, 1984, after the military junta took over (Blueprint, 2002). However, in 2002 another democratically elected government which had assumed power in 1999 removed the suspension and the university started with the name National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN). NOUN started with four schools and later added another one making five to date. Furthermore, the Nigeria National IT policy, which was formulated in the year 2000, is responsible for the monumental developments across the various sectors of the economy. The vision is to make Nigeria an IT capable country in Africa and a key player in the information society. Its primary mission is to “Use IT” for: education; creation of wealth; poverty eradication; job creation; governance; health; agriculture; etc. (Ajayi, 2005). As Ayo, Akinyemi, Adebiyi and Ekong, (2007) opined that, the advent of web applications into the computing technology has brought about a significant revolution in our social life including the traditional system of education and examination. Many institutions are beginning to re-evaluate their traditional methods and have considered providing pedagogical materials through the Internet. Ayo et. al. (2007) defines eexamination as a system that “involves the conduct of examinations through the web or the intranet” (p. 126). Joint Information Systems Committee (JISC, 2007) defined the term eassessment as a broadly-based one, covering a range of activities in which digital technologies are used in assessment. Such activities include the designing and delivery 19 of assessments, marking by computers, or humans assisted by scanners and tools and all processes of reporting, storing and transferring of data associated with public and internal assessments. e-Assessment is the end-to-end electronic assessment processes where ICT is used for the presentation of assessment activity, and the recording of responses. This includes the end-to-end assessment process from the perspective of learners, tutors, learning establishments, awarding bodies and regulators, and the general public, www.jisc.ac.uk E-assessment or Computer Based Testing and Assessment or Computer Assisted Assessment mean many things to many people, and comes under many different names and titles. It embraces the use of Information Technology for any activity which involves the assessment of skills, knowledge, understanding, competency or aptitude. It is used in formal qualifications, to support learning, to collect evidence of competency and achievement, in diagnostic testing of learning in many other similar applications. In the broadest view it covers virtually all aspects of assessment activity where the computer is used to deliver a task, or set of tasks and questions, and then collect, store the response and allow them to be evaluated or marked. This includes set assignments and coursework as much as the more obvious and common on-line test. It could also involve capture of work originally on paper that is scanned in to a computer and then marked by some combination of human markers or the electronic markers. 20 Where questions or tasks are delivered to candidates via a computer terminal this typically involves some combination of the following six stages 1. Develop: author, develop and store questions or tasks in an item bank or repository 2. produce: assist the selection of a subset of questions or tasks, and gather together in an electronic paper or assignment 3. deliver: display of computer stored questions or tasks 4. process: collect responses from candidates in a controlled and secure manner 5. mark: by computer or support human marking of responses 6. feedback: return results to candidates and administration systems In fact, it fits into a range of areas of work among others including: 1. e-Learning - as the method of measuring progress on a course of study, 2. electronic portfolios - as means of developing and holding course work or material for a set assignment, 3. computer based examination administration - to hold registrations, entries and results of qualifications, examinations and tests, 4. EDI and data transfer - as a means of transferring large volumes of data between computer systems in a quick, fool proof and auditable manner, and 5. OMR response/data collection systems 21 Computer Based Assessment and Testing can be used as part of high stakes qualifications (such as publicly accredited qualifications) and low stakes assessment within the classroom, workplace or at home. Though the definition of Wikipedia is that of e-assessment it is related to eexamination. E-assessment in its broadest sense is the use of information technology for any assessment related activity. This definition embraces a wide range of student activity ranging from the use of a word processor to on-screen testing. Due to its obvious similarity to e-learning, the term e-assessment is becoming widely used as a generic term to describe the use of computers within the assessment process. Specific types of e-assessment include computerized adaptive testing and computerized classification testing, Wikipedia, (2011). However, the researcher opined that eAssessment is the use of computers and computer software to evaluate skills and knowledge in a certain area. It can range from on-screen testing systems that automatically mark learners' tests, to electronic portfolios where learners' work can be stored and marked. The nature of e-examination would naturally be traced to the further deployment of the potentials of the internet and the intranet. El Emary and Al Sondos, (2006) say that as schools around the world establish connections to the Internet and teachers and students gain proficiency with navigating through the vast quantity of readily available information, the true educational potential of the World Wide Web can finally begin to be understood. The Web can be a dynamic tool capable of 22 assisting educators in propelling learning exciting and competing levels and of bringing education to any students, anywhere, at any time (p. 1715) Students’ perception on e-assessment Improving the quality of the student learning experience is a key issue in higher education sector, and it has been widely recognised that e-assessment can contribute to this. However, it is interesting that whilst much research has been carried out into the perception towards e-assessment on the part of instructors, e-learning experts and educational technologists (e.g, Bull & McKenna, 2004; Stephens & Mascia, 1995; Warburton & Conole, 2003), there is relatively little research into what students think. Whilst we often make assumptions about what students feel, it would be useful and interesting to put these to the test and gain some first-hand data from students themselves. Moreover, the perception and opinions of test candidates are always important because these affect an assessment‟s face validity (Anastasi, 1982). The repertoire of assessment methods in use in higher institution of learning has expanded considerably in recent years. New modes of assessment have enriched the „conventional‟ evaluation setting, formerly characterized by both the multiplechoice examination and the traditional evaluation by essay (Sambell et al., 1997). More recently, portfolios, self and peer assessment, simulations and other innovative methods were introduced in higher educational contexts. These concepts make up the current evaluation context. Students‟ perceptions about these recent formats of e- 23 assessment and the more common multiple-choice and essay examinations constitute an important part of this review. Entwistle‟s (1991,1999) finding that the student‟s perception of the learning environment determines how she/he learns and not necessarily the educational context in itself. Reality as experienced by the often forgotten student, is an intervening variable, which cannot be neglected if full understanding of student learning is the purpose of our educational research and practices. However, student learning is related to evaluation practices. This provides the rationale for the primary focus of the present inquiry into student‟s perceptions about evaluation practices and assessment methods in our current learning environments Improving the quality of the student learning experience is a key issue in the higher institution of learning, and it has been widely recognised that e-assessment can contribute to this. However, it is interesting that whilst much research has been carried out into the perception towards e-assessment on the part of instructors, elearning experts and educational technologists (Bull & McKenna, 2004; Stephens & Mascia, 1995; Warburton & Conole, 2003), If students do not have confidence in a test, it will affect their levels of engagement and cooperation (Domino & Domino, 2006). A survey was carried out at the University of Bradford in April and May 2008 to measure student attitudes towards e-assessment: this consisted of the Student Perceptions of e-Assessment Questionnaire (SPEAQ), which was delivered to the students who had taken part in 24 online assessment during the academic year 2007–2008. The survey had several aims; to identify drivers and obstacles to the uptake of e-assessment, to test various widelyheld assumptions about student attitudes, to anticipate risks so that they might be managed more effectively in future, and more specifically, to inform an e-Learning Pathfinder Project to establish support systems for e-assessment (Dermo, 2008; Dermo & Eyre, 2008). According to Phillip, Wheater, Langan and Dunleavy (2005) the success of eassessment depends greatly on how the process is set up and managed. Greater understanding is needed about the effects of inexperienced markers on assessment and about the involvement of students in the development of marking criteria and how it affects the final mark. On the other hand, Papinczak, Young and Groves (2007) implemented the development of student-involved criteria, but students‟ perceptions of e-assessment experience remained quite negative. They suggested that may be students needed years of practice in e-assessment in order to become comfortable with the process. Methods and Purpose of Assessment Assessment is one of the most significant areas of an educational system. It defines what students take to be important, how they spend much of their academic time and in many ways how they value themselves. Rowntree (1987), says of assessment as a system employed to discover truth about an educational system, we must look to its assessment procedures. In addition, assessment is important because 25 students cannot avoid it, and is now becoming the mode of assessing students performance. Boud, (1995) says, Students can, with difficulty, escape from the effects of poor teaching, they cannot (by definition if they want to graduate) escape the effects of poor assessment. Birenbaum and Feldman, (1998) examined the relationships between the students' learning patterns and their perception towards e-assessment which characterized by multiple choice examinations, among students in higher education. The results reveal two patterns of relationships between the learning- related variables and the assessment perception. Dochy, Katrien & Steven (2002) agreed that Students with good learning skills, who have high confidence in their academic ability, tend to prefer the constructed response type of assessment over the multiple choice type. And vice versa, students with poor learning skills, who tend to have low confidence in their academic ability, prefer the choice over the constructed- response type of assessment. The other pattern shows that low test anxiety measures were related to positive attitudes towards the Open-ended E-assessment (OE) format. Students with high test anxiety, have more unfavourable attitudes towards the OE format and a preference to the choice- response type, probably because it puts less demanding requirements on their information processing capacity during the testing situation where that capacity is occupied by worries and test- irrelevant thoughts (e.g. Hembree, 1988). This undermines the significances of getting our assessment practices right for our students. Rowntree (1987) declared that assessment procedures offer answers to 26 the following questions; What student qualities and achievements are actively valued and rewarded by the system? How are its purposes and intentions realised? To what extent are the hopes and ideals, aims and objectives professed by the system ever truly perceived, valued and striven for by those who make their way within it? Assessment has two main purposes; the first reason is to assist learning, when looking at this area we must always strive to make the assessment relevant to the overall goals of the subject matter and to make our assessment part of the learning process. The second is to determine the effectiveness of the education system. Only with this can we as educators improve the education of our students. However, we must be able to determine not only the overall learning but which areas are not effective and need modification. As tutors we assess for a variety of reasons: 1. To pass or fail a student. 2. To grade or rank a student. 3. To select for future courses. 4. To predict success in future courses. 5. To provide a profile of what a student has learnt. 6. To diagnose students' strengths and weaknesses. 7. To provide feedback to students and improve their learning. 8. To help students to develop their skills of self−assessment 9. To motivate students to provide feedback to teachers. 10. To evaluate a course's strengths and weaknesses. 27 We must then question what we are assessing in the first place. A number of assessment points must be considered among which are: 1. What do we want to assess? Basic knowledge, skills, higher cognitive skills. 2. For what purpose? Diagnostic, formative, summative. 3. In which mode? There is need to be specific; on the part of the students, there is also a need to ask the following questions why, what and how, and relate these to the objectives of our courses and the learning outcomes devised for students. One must ask these questions to make sure that assessment matches educational purposes. Lecturers should then find the most appropriate assessment method for the set assignment or to assess the desired learning. When considering the assessment tasks, there is need to consider the strengths and weaknesses. It is important to appreciate that students expect to receive much of their information, whether educational or social, from online assessment and so we should be moving to assessing them by ongruent means. As student numbers have increased, and staff contact hours have in many cases decreased, students have asked for supplementary support. An example of this is given by Clarke Students had requested additional ways in which to learn and judge their progress during periods of low contact time with their tutors − especially in the lead up to examination (Clarke et al., 2004) From the INQUIRE evaluation it is strongly indicated that reinforcing the content of the lectures through formative assessment can act to cement students' understanding of key concepts and ideas (Clarke et al., 2004). 28 Ramsden (1992) says, it will be rare to find one assessment method which will satisfy the assessment of all the intended learning outcomes for a course, so it will be necessary to consider a range of assessment methods for our students. Weavers (2003) concurs: diversity decreases the dependency on the traditional formal examination, a method that does not suit the learning styles of many students. As it suggests, diagnostic assessment is used to diagnose the level of learning that has been achieved by our students, and is generally used at the beginning of course units for lecturers to determine the level at which they should be aiming their teaching, or to suggest to lecturers (or students themselves) the level of support that may be required. Lecturers may use diagnostic assessment at the end of a lecture, or a series of lectures to see if students have comprehended the information conveyed, and students appear to like this, as it is a way for them to keep a track on their learning. However, diagnostic assessment does not provide a tool to enhance student learning unless it has an element of feedback within it, unless it becomes formative. Assessment that is formative occurs during a course, and provides feedback to students to help them improve their performance. The feedback need not necessarily be derived from only the lecturers, but can be from students' peers or external agents such as clinical tutors or placement supervisors. It is important that the feedback should be given in relation to the criteria against which the work is being assessed. Involving students in peer assessment aids students in understanding and using the assessment criteria (Bradford, 2003). Indeed, Giving feedback on another student's 29 work, or being required to determine and defend one's own, not only increases a student's sense of responsibility and control over the subject matter, it often reveals the extent of one's misunderstandings more vividly than any other method (Ramsden, 1992). Assessment that is summative may or may not include feedback. The main difference between this form of assessment and that which is purely formative is that grades are awarded. The grade will indicate performance against the standards set for the assessment task, and can either be part of in−course assessment, or assessment at the end of a course or module. Boud (2000) says that assessment activities have to encompass formative assessment for learning and summative for certification. We should move away from providing merely summative assessments of our students' learning, especially when these occur at the end of units of study, because students will not be able to use these to improve in their learning. Summative and formative are not types of assessment but rather purposes to which assessment are put. Merit and Demerit of e−Assessment The characteristics of a good assessment technique that would have been a strong well evaluated pedagogy, as well as providing support for both staff and students − and of course, online assessment has all the other advantages of remote access and choice of time and place of assessment, although the latter may be limited for summative assessments that require security (JISC, 2008). 30 When looking to use e−assessment we can find that grading swiftly is one of its strongest points.Test feedback can be on a question by question basis and with the use of a „knowledge tracking system‟ students can follow their progression and self determine their weaknesses (and strengths). This aspect of tracking progression combined with careful nurturing of student expectations can assist in developing students as autonomous learners (JISC, 2008). Feedback also to students is an issue of quality assurance and quality enhancement, Institutions should ensure that appropriate feedback is provided to students on assessed working a way that promotes learning and facilitates improvement (QAA Code of Practice for the assurance of academic quality in higher education, section 6 May 2000) The importance of feedback for student learning cannot be overstated (Gipps, 2003). Improving formative feedback has been shown to raise standards in assessment, a conclusion based on a review of over 250 papers from several countries by Black and Wiliam (1998). They have also shown that the giving of marks has a negative effect, as students ignore feedback comments when marks or grades are given. Clarke et al., (2004) have shown that formative assessment can reinforce the content of lectures and can 'act to cement students' understanding of key conceptsand ideas' (Clarke et al., 2004: 259) There is a lot of advice given about feedback, that it should be timely to be effective, that it should provide constructive information to help with learning, that it should be related to assessment criteria that are clearly understood by the students, 31 and that it should make explicit to students what is required for high−quality work (Black et al 2002; Cowan, 2003; Sadler 1998). Comments on student work are only useful as feedback if students can use them to help them improve in similar further work, and Black et al (2002) say that: to be effective, feedback should cause thinking to take place. Feedback should be provided in a timely manner, the longer the gap between the assessment performance and the feedback on that assessment, the more that students are likely to treat the feedback as summative, as they have already moved on to new knowledge and new learning experiences. The information provided to the student must be of use to them, feedback functioned formatively only if the information fed back to the learner was used by the learner in improving performance' (Black et al 2002). Feedback should focus on what needs to be done, providing a motivation that improvement is possible, rather than focussing on ability, which can cause damage to self−esteem of low attainers. For students to be able to make use of the feedback, they have to be able to understand and apply the assessment criteria to their work. Once they can do this, they should be able to start making assessments of their own performance and begin to manage their own learning. Sadler (1989) argued that assessment criteria do not in themselves help in judging performance, but that students have to be helped to interpret the criteria for any piece of assessed work. Involving students in peer assessment, where they actively engage in using the criteria is one way of helping students to understand them, and then apply them in their own work. 32 Analysis of the feedback that staff give to their students can reveal more about the nature of the assessment task. Black et al., (2002) describe this, when talking about work with teachers in schools: They found that some tasks were useful in revealing pupils understandings and misunderstandings, but that others focussed mainly on conveying information. From this analysis, the teachers decided to modify some of the activities, remove some and find others which assessed the outcomes that were intended for their pupils. In the same way staff in higher and further education can analyse their feedback comments to evaluate the assessment tasks that they construct for their students. In addition, they can use an analysis of their feedback comments to provide information about the teaching that has been happening, and the evaluation may show areas of misunderstandings across the student body that require further attention in teaching situations. One of the potentials of the web is the ability to conduct examination through electronic means. Many scholars have hinted on the advantages of the deployment of e-examination. Awosiyan (2010) quoting Prof. Olu Jegede, the Vice-Chancellor of NOUN, says that: e-assessment was introduced to address series of anomalies being encountered in the manual tests. He said that the e-assessment would remove all human errors recorded in manual examination and create opportunity for students to access their results immediately.... With this, we have removed so many hiccups in the compilation of answer scripts and movement of examination papers from one part of the country to another. The examination is conducted now through the net.” it would be difficult for students to carry out any form of examination malpractice. 33 From the above statement, the following can be said to be the advantages of eexamination: Removal of human errors involved in the process of examination. The eradication of the compilation and physical movement of examination scripts, especially in the NOUN where we had to exchange examination scripts between the 39 study centres to avoid the halo effect and guarantee the quality of the assessment. It would also eradicate examination malpractice from the part of the students There are many advantages provided by e-assessment which demonstrate the same benefits to learner, instructor and administrator alike. 1. Provides more flexibility than pen and paper 2. Question types can include multimedia material 3. Document management techniques can be used to organise and store questions and question papers. 4. Marking can be speeded up and even automated in many situations 5. Easy and secure distribution of assessment material 6. Capability of providing instant feedback to the candidate both for individual questions, but also for the whole test or task if marked automatically 7. Automatic links possible to central record keeping systems 8. Ability to deliver on demand formative or even summative tests 9. New educative and/or motivational experience for the candidate 34 10. Provides opportunity for adaptive tests that respond to the candidates answers 11. Re-use and Cloning of tests 12. Use of randomisation and individualisation of tests and tasks. 13. Link to e-Learning facilities 14. Professional feedback to administrators, teachers or trainers 15. Analysis of responses to question level. Though as good as e-assessment is, it has some demerits which seem to be militating against the smooth running of the new assessment format. E-assessments take time and money to produce: Traditional assessments are quick and simple to produce but slow and expensive to use. E-assessment shifts the effort to the front of the process. They are time-consuming and expensive to create and quick and simple to use. The pay-back for e-assessment is long term but educational budgets are short/medium term, www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk. E-assessment cannot be used for every type of assessment: Although e-assessment can be used to assess most types of knowledge and understanding, it has limitations. For example, essay marking is currently not well done by a computer; e-assessment is (currently) not very good at measuring creative skills. E-assessment requires more support: Centres need to be tooled-up for online assessment. The infrastructure for traditional assessment is already in place; the infrastructure for e-assessment is not. Depending on the specific e-assessment system in use, centres may require dedicated assessment centres and there is a lot of money (wikipedia, 2011). 35 Influence of gender on students’ perception of e-assessment Gender is liken to a social attributes and opportunity associated with being male and female and the mutual relationship. These attributes and relationships are socially constructed and are learned through socialization processes while technology development serves as forum for exploring the linkage between changing gender relations and technological development (Ewhrudjakpor, 2006). Traditionally, technology is a male sphere, and research has previously shown that males have a greater interest in technology itself than females. females want to use the technology (e.g., Durndell, et al. 1995; Turkle 1988). In addition, this study also indicated gender differences, with males having more favourable attitudes towards the choice response format than females (Birenbaum & Feldman, 1998). These gender differences were attributed to a personality dimension of risk- taking, with females being more reluctant than males to guess on MC questions and being more likely to leave items blank (e.g. Ben- Shakhar & Sinai, 1991). Tapscott (1997), on the contrary, says that he cannot see any differences between how male and female use the Internet when he studies what he calls the Net generation or N-Gen. N-Geners are people born after 1977. They have grown up in the digital age, and he predicts that when the N-Gen takes over, at least there will be equality between the sexes on the Internet. More recent statistics have shown that, unlike earlier statistics, females are as frequent Internet users as males (Carlsson & Facht 2002). Jackson, et al. (2001) got the same result, but in their study women used e-mail more than men did, and men searched the Web more than women did. 36 This cannot be seen in Swedish statistics, where the use of these functions is shared equally between the sexes. An interesting trend in Sweden though is that males to a greater extent have access to Internet in their homes (Carlsson & Facht 2002), and it is more common for boys than for girls to have their own computer (Sjöberg 2002). Girls' Internet use on the other hand is often highlighted in media in connection with men seeking sexual contact with teenage girls, which increase parents' worries about the girls' use of the Internet. This shows that the question of equality between the sexes concerning computer use is very complex. The results of a computer competency test, which included both theoretical and practical knowledge (Bain, et al. 1999) showed that females were slightly less competent than males. Jackson et al. (2001) found that females reported more computer anxiety, less computer self-efficacy, and less favorable and less stereotypical computer attitudes. It has also been reported that males show a more positive attitude toward computers than females (Kadijevich 2000). It seems that research has found that technology is no longer reserved for males, but that females react somewhat differently to computers, and also have to deal with different conditions in society regarding this issue. Unilorin computer based test mode and authoring style The study of Olawale and Shafi‟i (2010) shows that very few Universities have started using the e-exams system for their test/exams in Nigeria and these includes Federal University of Technology Minna, University of Ilorin, Covenant University Ota, 37 Nigerian Open University of Nigeria (NOUN), to mention but a few. Their study revealed that, all the Universities used for their study were all operating almost in the same way. Only NOUN uses internet for the e-exams, while others used intranet setup within the University environments. In University of Ilorin, the intranet was setup in eexams centers containing 500 computer systems and a server and the CBT centre is being managed by COMSIT. Ayo et al (2007) and Akinsanmi (2010) considered the architecture of the existing system and presented a 3-tier architecture comprising the presentation tier, the logic tier and the database tier. The presentation tier offers an interface to the user, the logic tier serves as the middleware that is responsible for processing the user‟s requests, while the database tier serves as the repository of a pool of thousands of questions. It also consists of other modules for authentication (using User name/Registration Number and Password) and computing results. In preparing e-examination questions, the first approach is preparing the eexamination questions is to ask the lecturer in-charge of the course to submit the questions to the administrator at the center via the faculty/school exams officer some days before the commencement of the actual exams. The second step is for the administrator (mostly private operator) to enter the pool of questions into the database. The last step is to set the timing for the exams. The implication here is that, when examination questions passes through so many hands it is likely that the questions may leak, especially when a private individual is involved (Olawale and Shafi‟i, 2010). 38 Appraisal of the Literature Reviewed The literature reviewed in this work has provided an in-depth knowledge on the various parameters involved in this study such as history, nature and meaning of eassesment, students‟ perception on e-assessment, methods of e-assessment, merits and demerits of e-assessment, influence of gender on students‟ perception of eassessment and Unilorin computer based test mode and authoring style. This review has contributed tremendously in giving this study a focus. The literature considered the world history, nature and meaning of eassesment. Assessment was not seen as new to academia because assessment has been part of our educational system before e-assessment was introduced to enhance the conventional method (paper and pencil method) and different definitions of eassessment given by different authors were examined to form the bases for the study. Such scholars works cited include; (Martell & Calderon, 2005, Pearson, Vyas, Sensale, and Kim, 2001, Pearson, 2001, Audette, 2005, Linn, 2002, Ewell & Steen, 2006, FRN, 1977, Adekanmbi, 2004, JISC, 2007) and among others. The review in this section has helped the researcher with history, nature and meaning e-assessment. This will guide the researcher to carry out his study within the confinement of study. Literature was also reviewed on students‟ perception on e-assessment. The review focus on students‟ view of e-assessment and if students do not have confidence in a test, it will affect their levels of engagement and cooperation. In establishing the ealier statement, differrent authors who had worked related topics were cited which include; (Anastasi, 1982, Domino & Domino, 2006, Sambell et al., 39 1997, Entwistle‟s 1991,1999, Bull & McKenna, 2004; Stephens & Mascia, 1995; Warburton & Conole, 2003). The review in this section provides the researcher with basic information about the various perception of students on e-assessment. The review will consequently assist the researcher to carry out his study adequately. Literature reviewed on methods and purpose of assessment considered the various ways in which assessment is carried out such as: diagnosis, formative and summative assessment were critically examined. Works of many researchers who had carried out investigation on methods and purpose of assessment were cited which include the works of the following; (Rowntree 1987, Boud 1995, Birenbaum and Feldman 1998, Dochy, Katrien & Steven 2002, Hembree, 1988, Clarke et al., 2004, Weavers 2003, Boud 2000). Literature reviewed on merits and demerits of e-assessment, critically examined the advantages and disadvatages of e-assessment over the traditional method of paper and pencil assessment. For instance, Awosiyan (2010) quoting Prof. Olu Jegede, says that: e-assessment was introduced to address series of anomalies being encountered in the manual tests. He said that the e-assessment would remove all human errors recorded in manual examination and create opportunity for students to access their results immediately. JISCinfonet 2006 opined that, Though as good as eassessment is, it has some demerits which seem to be militating against the smooth running of the new assessment format. E-assessments take time and money to produce: Traditional assessments are quick and simple to produce but slow and expensive to use. E-assessment shifts the effort to the front of the process. They are 40 time-consuming and expensive to create and quick and simple to use. The pay-back for e-assessment is long term but educational budgets are short/medium term, www.jiscinfonet.ac.uk. E-assessment cannot be used for every type of assessment. The literature also considered influence of gender on students‟ perception of eassessment, (Bebetos and Antonio 2008; Kadel, 2005) liken gender to a social attributes and opportunity associated with being male or female and the mutual relationship. Though works of (Durndell, et al. 1995; Turkle 1988) indicated that males have greater interest in technology than females. Tapscott (1997) on the contrary, says that he cannot see any differences between how male and female use the Internet when he studies what he calls the Net generation or N-Gen. N-Geners are people born after 1977. E-exams result presentation/checking: In most of the centers visited in this research work, students don‟t get to see their results immediately after the exams. In some cases, the results may take weeks or even months before it is made available to the students. This violates one of the major objective of e-exams (instant access to results). This may give room for alteration of students result. There is also no room for the users to see the correction of their tests if they so wish. 41 CHAPTER THREE RESEARCH METHODOLOGY This Chapter describes the procedures the researcher would follow in the course of carrying out this study. This would be discussed under the following subheadings: Research Type, Sample and Sampling Techniques, Research Instrument, Validation of Instrument, procedures for Data Collection and Data Analysis Techiniques. Research Type This research is a descriptive survey research type. This research deals with conditions that exist, practices that prevail, and sometimes with how and what is or what exists in relation to some preceding events that have influenced or affected a present condition or event. Descriptive survey research is adopted based on it‟s appropriateness for large population sample. The survey will involve the use of researcher-designed questionnaire to elicit information on students‟ perception of eAssessment. Sample and Sampling techniques The target population for this study shall be all undergraduate students of University of Ilorin. The population for the study will be randomly drawn from humanity and science and total population for this study will three hundred (300) respondents. Fifty (50) students shall be drawn from each faculty using simple random 42 sampling technique to select the samples for the study. Twenty five (25) male and female students shall be selected to determine the gender perception of e-assessment in university of Ilorin. Research Instrument The instrument to be used for this study is a reseacher-designed questionnaire drawn based on students‟ perception of e-Assessment in the University of Ilorin. The questionnaire was designed in such a way that it would provide answers to the research questions raised and the hypotheses which the study seeks to answer and test respectively. The questionnaire will have an instructive section on how the respondents would answer the questions. The questionnaire will also have a section for the respondents biodata in which the sex, age, faculty, department and their programme of study. Validation Of Instrument According to Kerlinger (1973) content validity is the most important property of an instrument. Also, Casley and Lury (1987) have argued that to validate an instrument is one of the most important steps a researcher could take when constructing an instrument. In view of the above, care has been taken by the researcher in the process of validating the questionnaire. After the questionnaire had been drafted, it was taken to four experts to validate. One from department of computer science, one from Computer Services and 43 Information Technology Unit (COMSIT) and two from department of science education for the content and face validity. Procedure for Data Collection Data will be collected by direct administration. Firstly, permission will be sort from the University administrator. The instrument will be administered to the respondents and retrieved immediately after the respondents would have filled them. If for any reason some of the copies of the questionnaire are not immediately retrievable the researcher will go back to such faculty to retrieve them. Data Analysis techniques The data obtained would be analysed using frequency counts and percentages while t-test would be used to test the hypotheses which the study seek to answer and test respectively. 44 References Aborisade, Akinwale 2010, “NOUN student grumble about poor academic environment”, The Punch, 30 May, p. 8. 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Dear respondent, this questionnaire is being administered to you in respect of a reseach being conducted to find the students’ perception of e-assessment/computer based test (CBT). Kindly complete the questionnaire with absolute honesty bearing in mind that your responses are strictly for research purpose and will be treated with absolute confidentiality. SECTION A Name of your Faculty.................................................................................................................. Level............................................................................................................................................ Sex: Male ( ) Female ( ) Your subject area of specialization ............................................................................................ SECTION B Please tick ( ) the column that best suite your level of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) literacy. The response model for this section are : Strongly Agree (SA), Agree (A), Disagree (D) and Strongly Disagree (SD). How does student of University of Ilorin perceived e-assessment? S/N 1 2 3 4 5 Items Strongly agree I prefer registering my courses online to manual registration. I prefer Writing all examination online (CBT) is a modern approach than traditional paper and pencil. I spend less time when doing CBT examination. I am more comfortable with taking CBT exams than paperpencil based one. CBT does not allow me to express my mind. 70 Agree Disagree Strongly disagree Do students‟ gender influence their perception of e-assessment? 6 7 8 9 10 Using a computer adds to the stress of exams. I would feel more comfortable if the exam was on paper, not CBT. I'd rather do exams on a computer than on paper, because I am used to working online. I find it hard to concentrate on the questions when doing CBT exams I expect computers to be used as part of assessment at university. Does students‟ area of specialization influence their perception of e-assessment? S/N Items Strongly Agree 11 12 13 14 15 CBT examinaton is appropriate for my subject area. Because you can guess the answer, online multiple choice questions don't really reflect your level of knowledge The online test environment is appropriate for test taking and convenient Using computer makes examination writing easier for me. My subject area is too complex to be dealt with by online multiple choice questions. 71 Agree Disagree Strongly Disagree Does e-assessement influence students‟ performance in University of Ilorin? S/N 16 17 18 19 20 Items Strongly Agree Agree Marking is more accurate, because computers don’t suffer from human error. CBT exams cover all aspects of the course, hence I read wide to pass. Online assessments favour some students more than others Randomised questions from a bank means that sometimes you get easier questions. I am confident that my grades for online assessments are secure. 72 Disagree Strongly Disagree