Abstract:

Most of all higher education institutions in Jordan began to use CBA to help in conduct their educational activities. The Hashemite University is one of those institutions that first introduced CBA tools in its educational settings. Currently, the Hashemite University relies on online testing to assess more than 20 of its university requirement courses. Although there are many question formats that compose online tests (multiple choice questions, true and false, etc.), the Hashemite University focuses mainly on multiple choice questions (MCQs) format. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the online testing experience from a student perspective.The population of the study included all the Hashemite University undergraduate students. The sample of the study consisted of undergraduate students who were enrolled in courses where their exams were administered online in the second semester of the academic year 2006/2007. A total number of 270 undergraduate students representing most academic fields of study in the university were chosen. Of those, 258 students returned usable surveys representing 95% response rate. This high response rate could be due to the fact that online testing is appealing to students which encouraged them to respond. A 33-item survey called Students' Perceptions of Online Testing Instrument (SPOTI) adapted from (Alexander, Truel, & Bartket, 2002) was used to gather the required data. The survey consisted of two sections. The first section was devoted to collect personal information from participants. The second section consisted of 33-Likert-type scale questions with a five-point spread that reflected students’ perceptions toward the University's strategy for online testing,students' responses were analyzed using SPSS to answer the research questions. However, based on GPA, the results revealed the existence of significant differences (at 0.05 alpha level) in students' perception toward online testing on the "benefits of online testing" dimension between the group of 2-2.49 GPA and the group of 2.5-3.49 GPA, in favor of the former group.

Keywords:

Online testing, Computer based assessment, Higher education.