ELECTRONIC ASSESSMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION: LECTURER AND STUDENT CHALLENGES

This paper investigates the implementation of electronic assessment (e-assessment) in a higher education setting. Educational Technologies have developed at such a fast pace that it has become critical for higher education to keep up to date with these advances. In this paper we provide a contextualised overview of challenges experienced by both lecturers and students at a University engaging with a single e-assessment tool. Both qualitative and quantitative methods were used in this study. A generic qualitative approach was chosen in the initial phase where data were collected through qualitative focus group interviews with End User Computing (EUC) lecturers. This was done in order to identify variables that were explored further with the quantitative questionnaire that was subsequently provided to over three-hundred EUC students. Three categories related to lecturers’ perceptions of student engagement with the electronic assessment tool emerged from the initial qualitative analysis: issues related to language, issues related to the electronic assessment system, and issues related to teaching and learning with the electronic assessment tool. Subsequently, supporting or contrasting findings from the quantitative phase highlighted issues related to language, the electronic assessment system, teaching and learning, and issues related to preparation for e-assessment.