Online Continuous Assessment Tests: Experiences and Lessons from Kenyatta University
Loading...
Date
2022
Authors
Njihia, Mukirae
Mwaniki, Elizabeth
Ireri, Anthony
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Abstract
Between October 2015 and April, 2017, the School of Education, Kenyatta University in collaboration
with the Commonwealth of Learning (CoL) organized three capacity building workshops for its lecturers
on Integration of ICT in teaching and learning. During the 3rd workshop held in March, 2017 and
whose focus was on online Assessment, it was noted that despite the university’s investment in a Learning
Management System (LMS) for online teaching and learning, lecturers had not utilized it for formative
learner assessment. Therefore, it was agreed that the departments of Educational Psychology and
Educational Management would play the role of trailblazers in giving online Continuous Assessments
Tests (CATs) in the School of Education. In the 2nd semester of 2016/2017 academic year and the 1st
semester of the 2017/2018 academic year, the two departments gave a total of four online CATs in four
different units to over 9,000 undergraduate students. This innovation in assessment informed this study
whose purpose was to document the views and experiences of both students and lecturers on online CATs.
The study embraced a mixed method design that enabled collection and triangulation of quantitative
data from students and qualitative data from lecturers. The results indicated that the students were
initially apprehensive before the online CAT but after they were done, a majority stated that they enjoyed
the experience. The students also praised the technical support given during the CAT, the immediate
feedback and the sense of control of their marks. Lecturers were initially sceptical about mounting online
CATs but their perception changed after they were rolled out as they appreciated the reduced workload
in terms of marking and grading as well as reduced human error. Some key challenges that hindered
effectiveness of the online CATs included a few students’ registration numbers missing in the LMS, slow
internet during online CATs, students using wrong passwords to get into the LMS, interruption from
other students in computer lab and strict marking in the short answer items.
Description
research paper
Keywords
Continuous Assessments Tests (CATs), Online Assessment, formative assessment, technical support, Learning Management System
Citation
Njihia, M., Mwaniki, E., & Ireri, A. (2022). Online Continuous Assessment Tests: Experiences and Lessons from Kenyatta University. Msingi Journal, 6(1), 53-68. Retrieved from https://journals. ku.ac.ke/index.php/msingi/article/view/276