Advances in E-learning-Experiences and Methodologies

Formative Online Assessment in E-Learning
Figure 1. Students’ final marks depending on the use or nonuse of the self-assessment tool
% of students
40
30
20
10
users
non-users
0
d c B A A+
student's final marks
designed self-assessment exercises (multiplechoice,
short-answer questions, fill-in the blanks
exercises, crosswords, etc.) in HTML format.
Twenty items were designed for each unit of the
teaching program (100 items in total). Furthermore,
each unit included some revision exercises
and a final exercise including content from all the
units. It was explained to students that using the
tool would not mean they obtained higher final
marks. The self-assessment items were published
on the Internet as each unit was finished in class.
At the end of the semester, students completed
a questionnaire about their satisfaction with the
self-assessment tool, and their learning perception.
Finally, summative assessment marks were
awarded.
A high proportion of students used the selfassessment
tool (46% of all students registered),
considering that the exercises were voluntary,
with no extra incentive, outside of the normal
timetable and with the requirement of an Internet
connection. Results show an acceptable rate
of satisfaction among students who used Hot
Potatoes. Sixty-six percent of students “agreed”
or “totally agreed” with the statement, The tool
was useful for revising the content explained in
the classroom. Similarly, 66% of the learners
agreed” or “totally agreed” with the statement,
The exercises were useful for understanding and
processing the information. In response to the
item, In my opinion, self-assessment exercises can
be a useful complementary tool for learning, 80%
“agreed” or “totally agreed.” The mean of all of
items, on a Likert scale from 1 to 5, was 3.8.
The results suggest that students who use
interactive self-assessment exercises as a complementary
study tool obtain better final marks. There
is a positive correlation between the frequency
with which students use these exercises and
academic results, r (81) = .24, p < .05. Obviously,
the correlation between the number of exercises
done and the final mark was also positive, r (81)
= .25, p < .05. In other words, students who do
more self-assessment exercises obtain higher
final marks.
Figure 1 was designed to show the kind of student
that makes use of self-assessment exercises.
The results indicate that the majority of students
with higher marks (B, A, or A+) had used selfassessment
tool.
In short, interactive self-assessment exercises
can act as formative assessment tools for
improving students’ learning process and learning
satisfaction, thus increasing the quality of
education.