12. E-Assessment

The A-Assessment Association defines the term as: “the use of electronic processes for registration of candidates to certification and also the end-to-end assessment processes from the perspective of learners, practitioners, school administrators, learning establishments, awarding bodies and members of the general public”. According to Evelyn Izquierdo, our ICT in ELT professor, e-assessment is gathering data about a student’s performance over a period of time through the use of information technology, and it is different from evaluation since marks are not assigned to the undertaken tasks. E-assessment includes students’ activities ranging from the use of a computer application to on-screen tests.

There are three types of assessment, although the terms are usually interchanged:

1. Computer Assisted/Mediated Assessment: this refers the use of computers within the assessment process. The computer only facilitates the transfer of responses between humans.

2. Computer-Based Assessment: it refers to assessment through the intrinsic use of a computer. It is related to IT practical skills or knowledge tests. The difference here is that the computer assesses the candidates’ responses.

3. Online assessment: this one requires the use of the Internet. The transfer of data is conducted via the Internet; nevertheless, few sessions or activities are actually online in real time.

Nowadays, e-assessment is frequently used since it has more advantages than traditional paper-based assessments:

- Flexibility in terms of time and location

- Improved reliability with respect to marking

- Instant feedback to students

- Greater storage

- Interactivity

- Multimedia

- Lower long-term costs

However, it also has disadvantages. For instance, e-assessment is not suitable for long response questions and it is expensive to establish. Here is an example of e-assessment in Mathematics and Numeracy. If you have examples in Language Teaching, I will be thrilled to include them in this blog. Feel free to contact me.

For more information on this topic, visit the following links

E-Assessment in Wikipedia

E-Assessment Association

E-Assessment: Guide to Effective Practice