Paper exam vs. e-assessment
Submitted by:
Helin Puksand
Abstract:
The graduation from upper secondary school in Estonia requires the student passing the state exams consisting of the Estonian language or Estonian as a second language, mathematics and a foreign language exam. The Estonian language as L1 exam is a written one and it consists of two parts: reading and writing. Estonian Ministry of education wants to change the format of the exam and use e-assessment instead of paper exam.
The working group of the Estonian language exam development began work in autumn 2015. The aim of this group is to work up new exam and find out the advantages and disadvantages of the new examination form. There are many advantages and disadvantages of computer-based exam, for example this allows more interactive and engaging item types (Jordan, 2013, Kyllonen, 2009), but we must take account if large numbers of students take an assessment simultaneously, issues of scale must be addressed, such as network and server congestion, fluctuations in speed, and possible disruptions in service (Kyllonen, 2009). It is also important to realize that computer-based and paper-based tests will not produce equivalent measures of student learning (Clariana, Wallace, 2002).
The state exam in Estonian is very important exam for young people therefore it is necessary to remove majority of cons. The first test of computer-based writing task will be done in spring 2017. Students and teachers will fill questionnaire after writing the test. This presentation will analyze the students’ and teachers’ answers what they think about doing the electronic examination, is the computer-based exam better or worse than writing exam to the paper.
References
Clariana, R., & Wallace, P. (2002). Paper-based versus computer-based assessment: key factors associated with the test mode effect. British Journal of Educational Technology.33(5) pp. 593-602.
Jordan, Sally (2013). E-assessment: past, present and future. New Directions, 9(1) pp. 87-106.
Kyllonen, P.C. (2009). New Constructs, Methods, & Directions for Computer-Based Assessment. In F. Scheuermann & J. Bjórnsson (Eds.). The Transition to Computer-Based Assessment: New Approaches to Skills Assessment and Implications for Large-Scale Testing, pp. 151-156.