The Student Perspective

Students react favourably to e-assessment. Newark and Sherwood College report that 'Staff have noticed that students are reacting increasingly positively to online, on-demand testing. The DfES key skills provision is popular with staff and students alike.'(Case Studies of Managed Learning Environments in Further Education, July 2005)

Most of our students are experienced at using technology-based assessment prior to enrolling at a College or University - in primary schools it is used as part of the 'Online Internet Safety' training and in the secondary sector some key stage testing is on online as are City and Guilds assessments.

Students are used to using technology as part of their studies and so using e-assessment is a natural progression. As one student from the University of Derby said 'I feel that assessment on a computer is better than writing because usually you forget what you are going to write...before you write it. The brain works faster than your handwriting.'

Prior Practice

Issues of prior practice are as important in CAA as they are with any assessment activities, with students being given the chance to have practice in, and learn from, assessment activities for which there will be a summative grade. Brosnan (1999) suggests that students who are confident in the use of computers as well as having had the prior experience of the test will perform better than other students. Zakrzewski and Steven (2003) stress the importance of providing student familiarity with tests prior to them taking tests for real, and students should be encouraged to become familiar with the machines and type of test questions for which they will be assessed (Hay and Bull, 2002). It is important that students are assessed on the subject matter and not on their ability to 'press buttons in the right order' (Thomas and Milligan, 2003).