Tertiary level English Language Teachers' Use of, and Attitudes to Alternative and Online Assessments during the Covid-19 Outbreak

This study aims to investigate the English language teachers’ perceptions and attitudes towards the use of alternative and online assessments adopted during the Coronavirus (Covid-19) outbreak, in Saudi Arabia. The current study employs a descriptive method, and the data were collected using a survey questionnaire, which consists of 33 closed-ended and four open-ended questions. The participants were 102 (46 male and 56 female) teachers of English at Northern Border University, Saudi Arabia. The questionnaires were administered online via Google Form. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics for quantitative responses, whereas content analysis was used to analyze the qualitative responses collected from the open-ended questions. The findings revealed that the teachers had mixed reactions towards alternative and online assessments. The online assessments adopted were in form of both alternative and traditional types, administered via Blackboard. It was found that portfolios and oral presentations were the most frequently used forms of alternative assessments by the English language teachers at the time of Covid-19. Other types of alternative assessments, including, online collaborative/peer assessment, self-assessment, virtual concept map, concept map, article review, and mini-project, were claimed to be less used by the teachers. However, the teachers’ top priority was summative assessment, where by the traditional exams were in fact still be used in online assessment. In addition, teachers reported constraints related to time for the assessments, need for computer literacy, possibility of cheating, and technical issues, when adopting online assessments. However, they believed online assessment covered the content of the course of study. Teachers also reported that students did not initially like online assessment but later warmed to it as it proved easier to do well in. Finally, pedagogical implications are discussed based on the study findings.

Applying Assessment Principles during Emergency Remote Teaching: Challenges and Considerations

One of the main challenges higher educational institutions encounter amid the recent COVID-19 crisis is transferring assessment approaches from the traditional face-to-face form to the online Emergency Remote Teaching approach. A set of language assessment principles, practicality, reliability, validity, authenticity, and washback, which can be applied to any academic subject, are critical within the design of any task that aims to assess learning. This review paper discusses how assessment approaches need to be modified in a time of crisis. It determines the position assessment should adopt within emergency remote teaching methods and analyzes the fundamental characteristics of five principles of assessment and how they can be accomplished with emergency remote teaching approaches. Furthermore, this paper evaluates the vulnerability and viability of the five assessment principles, examines the application of online assessment on a holistic level, and puts forward a set of recommendations to ensure the assessment principles are achieved within emergency remote learning contexts. The paper concludes with the notion that the construct of time, which is inherent within the principle of practicality, is the most significant when developing online assessments as it is this characteristic that is the most at risk. In addition, we suggest that the assessments that are implemented during emergency remote learning involve open-ended, as opposed to close-ended, questions and highlight the importance of educators demonstrating flexibility and understanding toward their students.

Training On the Use of Google Form for Learning Assessment in Elementary School During the Covid 19 Pandemic

The existence of the COVID-19 pandemic has made the learning process that was originally face-to-face to online distance learning. One aspect that is still not optimal is in the assessment of learning. There are many applications that can be used by teachers in the implementation of online learning assessments. One of the online assessments that is often used is google form. This google form platform has been widely used for online assessments such as for blinding evaluation exercises, evaluating lecturers' performance and for alternative learning evaluations. The method implemented in this training is training through the zoom meeting application and also assignments. This training is aimed at elementary school teachers. The number of participants for this training is 10 elementary school teachers from Sumedang, Bandung, Cimahi, and West Bandung areas. This training consists of three stages, namely training preparation, training implementation, and post-training control. In general, the results of the training are in accordance with the tutorials given during the training, starting from the identity page, entering questions, entering answer keys and scoring. Based on the results of the questionnaire given after the training, 95% of the respondents received a positive response. The participants responded that the training carried out was very useful and relevant to the needs of the online learning period.

Ensuring Academic Integrity in Online Assessments: A Literature Review and Recommendations

During the recent COVID-19 outbreak, educational institutions have transitioned to online teaching for all students for most of the programs. Due to lack of in-person interactions and monitoring, assessments in online courses may be more susceptible to contract cheating, collusion, fabrication and other types of academic misconduct than the assessments in face-to-face courses. This situation has raised several research questions that need immediate attention, such as what are the best possible options for online assessments and how to administer online assessments so that academic integrity could be preserved. The authors have conducted a scoping study and carried out an extensive literature review on i) different types of assessments that are suitable for online courses, ii) strategies for ensuring academic integrity, and iii) methods, tools and technologies available for preventing academic misconduct in online assessments. It is evident from the literature review that there are a range of options available for designing assessment tasks to detect and prevent violations of academic integrity. However, no single method or design is enough to eliminate all sorts of academic integrity violations. After thorough research and analysis of existing literature, the authors have provided a comprehensive set of recommendations that could be adopted for ensuring academic integrity in online assessments.

Online Assessments: Their Importance in Higher Education

The main purpose of this review article is to deliberate on online assessments, the advantages and disadvantages of e-assessments, and their importance in the higher education sector, in the post-COVID era. Online assessments are the collection of tasks that are made by educational instructors in order to evaluate student performance, using Information and Communication Technologies. There are different types of techniques to conduct e-assessments, which result in different rewards and shortcomings. However, this article delivers the strategies that can be used to eliminate the downsides of online assessment.

ARTIFICIAL LEARNING-BASED PROCTORING SOLUTION FOR REMOTE ONLINE ASSESSMENTS: “VPROCTOR”

Technological developments have paved the way for courses, trainings and assessments to be made online remotely in education and employment. In the meantime, over the years, the demand for online distance learning has increased rapidly. Eventually, it has been seen that this is a necessity and it has become widespread during the COVID-19 pandemic period. As can be seen in the example of massive online open courses, although remote learning is carried out online, perhaps the most important problem is how to evaluate the relevant courses safely and reliably. Thus, remote online proctoring is becoming an increasingly popular and needed issue. In this study, the issue of conducting the examination remotely online via internet-connected video and audio communication will be evaluated. Furthermore, the solution called vProctor was developed to contribute to the elimination of deficiencies in remote online proctoring using artificial learning. Overall, it has been observed that the proposed solution is managed to determine inappropriate behaviors like cheating in the online assessments.

Online Writing Assessment during the Covid-19 Pandemic: Challenges, Options and Scenarios

Assessment is at the core of the teaching process. It shapes students’ understanding of the curriculum and determines their ability to progress. Choosing an assessment strategy is an important aspect of the curriculum planning process. Hence, in the context of this shift from face-to face learning to full-time online learning, several challenges arose including how to develop online writing assessment to the students. In particular, online assessment of students’ writing has become an unprecedented new situation for many English lecturers. The transition from face-to-face assessment to online assessment has been a new experience for many English lecturers who have never applied it before nor have background knowledge of its mechanisms and methods. The issue has raised an important point for English teaching practitioners and course designers regarding the strategies and challenges of this mandatory mode of assessment. From this perspective, the purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of online writing assessments in the COVID-19 pandemic era, including challenges faced by lecturers in conducting online assessments, as well as a set of recommendations for designing online assessment mechanisms and strategies that will result in a fair assessment process for all.

Applying Assessment Principles during Emergency Remote Teaching: Challenges and Considerations

One of the main challenges higher educational institutions encounter amid the recent COVID-19 crisis is transferring assessment approaches from the traditional face-to-face form to the online Emergency Remote Teaching approach. A set of language assessment principles, practicality, reliability, validity, authenticity, and washback, which can be applied to any academic subject, are critical within the design of any task that aims to assess learning. This review paper discusses how assessment approaches need to be modified in a time of crisis. It determines the position assessment should adopt within emergency remote teaching methods and analyzes the fundamental characteristics of five principles of assessment and how they can be accomplished with emergency remote teaching approaches. Furthermore, this paper evaluates the vulnerability and viability of the five assessment principles, examines the application of online assessment on a holistic level, and puts forward a set of recommendations to ensure the assessment principles are achieved within emergency remote learning contexts. The paper concludes with the notion that the construct of time, which is inherent within the principle of practicality, is the most significant when developing online assessments as it is this characteristic that is the most at risk. In addition, we suggest that the assessments that are implemented during emergency remote learning involve open-ended, as opposed to close-ended, questions and highlight the importance of educators demonstrating flexibility and understanding toward their students.

Retrospective confidence judgements in general-knowledge questions: Magnetoencephalograhy correlates

Memory monitoring processes are online assessments of the quality of our retrieval. Despite their importance for cognition, few studies on episodic memory and perceptual discrimination studied their neural dynamics and reported diverse results. Also, research showed increased theta in correct lexical identifications, but its monitoring was not investigated. We used MEG to study the brain activity underpinning memory monitoring of retrospective confidence judgments. 29 participants answered multiple-choice general knowledge questions and rated the confidence of their choice, while MEG was recorded. Mixed-effect linear models in the averaged single-trial responses showed a marginal difference for high versus low confidence answers in left dorso-parietal and occipital sensors at 260-320 ms after the presentation of alternatives. Signal power analysis in the 400-800 ms time window showed differences in theta band for low versus high confidence hits and miss trials. However, no differences were found for high hits and misses, which may reflect that in terms of monitoring, both answers are equal for participants. These results support the findings of increased theta power for correct semantic identification extending them to the monitoring processes.

The value of a Community of Practice in the subject design process when embedding Interactive Oral Assessments

This paper shares insights gained from members of a Community of Practice (CoP) who jointly designed and developed Interactive Oral Assessments (IOAs) for their online subjects in the first half of 2021 as part of a broader institutional project to improve online assessment practice across a multi-campus regional NSW university. Meetings of the CoP were conducted virtually to allow geographically dispersed staff to participate in and benefit from the sessions. The main aim of the CoP was to design online assessments that promote academic integrity and reflect authentic graduates’ practice. The CoP members implemented new assessment regimes, tasks and rubrics for their respective subjects involved in the initiative and developed a suite of resources for future staff interested in trialling this approach. The outcomes highlight the value of a dedicated CoP in supporting academics to successfully embed a new assessment approach, and for encouraging uptake across the university courses.