Abstract:

The assessment of every student is a critical component in teaching and learning processes. Assessment can be defined as any method applied to better understand students’ knowledge on a specific topic or subject (Dietel, Herman and Knuth, 1991). This research focused on the assessment processes within a large-scale Digital Academic Literacy (DAL) Programme at the University of the Western Cape, integrated into modules across faculties and departments. The programme caters for varying needs and demands of novice users of basic computer literacy skills, mainly first year students, and senior students. In addition, a variety of customised projects are delivered in collaboration with the DAL facilitators and subject-matter experts within disciplines. Since 2005 to 2015, the team engaged in traditional assessment methods, which included extensive manual processes, namely: scheduling of venues; setting-up various tests for packages according to discipline specific needs; grading; moderation; monitoring and tracking; feedback to students; and query sessions. The researchers deliberate on the overall traditional assessment methods which enabled them to deliver and support 3601 students across 17 departments, in the 2015 academic year. In 2015 South African Higher Education Institutions (HEI’s) faced a movement of protests dubbed #FeesMustFall, which intensified into 2016 despite the government’s proclamation that students from poor backgrounds would not pay any fees. Malefane and Ngala (2011) argue that South African government’s failure to deal with issues of service provision in education for the under-resourced communities is a major catalyst for continued public dissatisfaction that triggers public service delivery protests. Thus the closure of most universities before the completion of their academic year resulted to reliance on eLearning, as the panacea for teaching and learning for completion of the academic programmes, including University of the Western Cape. The research adopted a qualitative design, with supporting quantitative statistics. Some of the key findings of this reflective paper included an extensive, challenging blended approach which enabled facilitators to continue with the delivery via various modes, including the institutional learning management system (LMS) which hosted screencasts and student-led discussion forums; email boxes, and face-to-face consultations. At the time of this research, the team had already reviewed the programme, specifically in relation to assessment methods and the selection and adoption of an eAssessment tool which would improve and enhance traditional processes. The research further recommends reflection on the pilot study in 2016, which entailed the assessment of 4500 students making use of the eAssessment tool, namely CompAssess.

Keywords:

e-assessment, traditional methods, basic digital literacy, blended approach, large-scale student programme.