Abstract:

One of the major concerns in online education lays in identifying students and avoiding academic fraud (Khare & Lam, 2008; Shaffer, 2012; Yates & Beaudrie, 2009). Online universities maintain onsite examinations for ensuring students’ identity and mitigating doubts related to academic rigour. Face-to-face exams reinforce the summative approach to assessment and reduce the presumed flexibility of online education. Adult learners need from an educational program to permit self-regulation and a high degree of adaptability to diverse circumstances. E-assessment has been proved to be beneficial in terms of flexibility (location and time), feedback immediacy, and reliability (Dermo, 2009; Marriott & Lau, 2008; Rastgoo, Namvar, & Iran, 2010). The use of security mechanisms is being explored to overcome the limitations of e-assessment associated to the identification of students and the prevention of academic dishonesty (e.g. Asha & Chellappan, 2008; Caldarola & MacNeil, 2009; Foster, Mattoon, & Shearer, 2008; Watson & Sottile, 2010).

The EU H2020 TeSLA project is developing an e-authentication system for assessment that can overcome the time and physical barriers that onsite examinations involve as a way for engaging adult learners online. Seven European universities are testing the system throughout three pilots (Noguera, Guerrero-Roldán, & Rodríguez, 2017; Rodríguez, Baneres, Ivanova, & Durcheva, 2017). Three quality assurance organisations guarantee the quality of the assessment processes within the project.

This paper focuses on the experience lived by UOC teachers when designing the e-assessment activities for enabling the TeSLA instruments (face and voice recognition, keystroke dynamics, forensic analysis and anti-plagiarism tool) during the second pilot. This study examines the impact of the use of the TeSLA system on course design and the potential of the system to enhance the quality of online assessment. A total of 882 students, 64 teachers, and 10 courses have been involved. Both students (S) and teachers (T) were invited to fill in a pre- and post-pilot questionnaire (756S/45T answered the pre-pilot questionnaire, 339S/32T the post-pilot), and to participate in group interviews about the pilot’s experience (6S, 4T) and quality matters (4S, 3T). Results from an external review conducted on the basis of the assessment methodology are also considered.

Findings suggest that the use of the TeSLA system had a slightly negative impact on course design. Some teachers experienced difficulties when designing (19%) or assessing (28%) the piloted activities. However, they profited the opportunity to rethink the assessment method and to improve the e-assessment activities. 46% of the students felt that the workload for the course was greater than expected (although they did not feel more stressed). Both teachers and students believe the TeSLA system has the potential to enhance the quality of online assessment by proving the originality of the work, preventing cheating, reducing onsite exams, saving time, and adapting to needs. Results show a set of good practices that demonstrate the compromise of the institution with quality assurance and constant improvement of degree programmes. The review process also raised some improvement areas that will be taken into account in next pilot implementation.

Keywords:

Quality assurance, online education, assessment, e-authentication, authorship.