Abstract:

This paper reports on the results of an analysis of student performances following the addition of rubric-referenced self-assessment into a third-level programming module. The self-assessment technique applied to the module incorporated a documented one-to-one sign-off procedure between the educator and student to finalize each student’s continuous assessment (CA) result. The overall grades for the software module were calculated based on 50% CA and 50% formal examination. The results are based on the analysis of the academic performances of approximately 300 second-year undergraduate students that participated and engaged in the module over a five-year period. The analysis compared the means between two independent pre self-assessment and post self-assessment groups. It was expected that the results of the analysis would provide evidence that the introduction of self-assessment improved academic performances in the post self-assessment group. The CA, examination and overall results were compared between the two groups. The CA mean for the post self-assessment group improved significantly when compared to the CA mean of the pre self-assessment group. The student examination performances mean decreased in the post self-assessment group, however, the decrease was not statistically significant. The students’ overall performances mean increased in the post self-assessment group, however, the mean increase was not statistically significant. In conclusion, the results of the analysis suggest that the addition of self-assessment to this module contributed positively to the CA performances and overall performances of the post self-assessment student group. However, the significant CA improvement did not lead to a significant improvement in the overall performances in the module. These findings contribute to the growing body of evidence that self-assessment contributes positively to student learning. However, the limited improvement in the overall grades of the post self-assessment group provides a caveat to educators that, in some applications or subject areas, the introduction of self-assessment may not be as impactful as anticipated.

Keywords:

Self-assessment, programming, third-level programming, continuous assessment.