Technology-based Assessment
- LAST REVIEWED: 27 March 2019
- LAST MODIFIED: 27 March 2019
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756810-0215
- LAST REVIEWED: 27 March 2019
- LAST MODIFIED: 27 March 2019
- DOI: 10.1093/obo/9780199756810-0215
Introduction
Scholarship around the potential contribution and impact of technology and the digital environment on assessment is substantial and in constant evolution. Such contribution has been argued along three main themes: the technology-based affordances and efficiency benefits emerging from the use of the electronic medium, the value-added/quality enhancing opportunities of electronic assessment, and the deeper and more far-reaching transformative potential offered by technology to change the nature of assessment. This article focuses on the first of these grounds: technology-based assessment. And it provides a historical overview of academic scholarship and institutional practice from the early days of computer-based assessment to more recent developments covering computer-based assessment, computer-adaptive testing, computer-assisted assessment, plagiarism detection technologies, esubmission, emarking technologies, and electronic management of assessment.
General Overview
It is widely acknowledged that technology and the digital environment offer a range of opportunities and added value vis-à-vis traditional assessment activities, methods, and processes. The affordances of technology-based assessment revolve around (1) access to assessment from potentially any geographical locations and at any time; (2) automatized administration allowing students to undertake online tests many times and re-assess their knowledge; (3) enhancing static presentation of assessment items with interactive and media-enriched content; (4) computer data-processing capabilities such as automatic scoring and adaptive testing; (5) sophisticated reporting including both the easy gathering and analysis of student responses or behavioral data to allow the marker to refine and adapt assessment activities and instruction; (6) cost efficiencies emerging from scaling and automatization. Beyond an operational and efficiencies focus of technology-based assessment, a stream of scholarship has investigated ways in which technology can enhance, add quality, or value to both assessment and feedback processes. Case studies on the affordances and experiences of technology-enhanced assessment are abundant (see as useful overviews: Nicol 2008; Whitelock 2009; Oldfield, et al. 2012; Timmis, et al. 2016). In turn, and beyond quality enhancement, digital technology has been heralded for its transformative potential: for widening the range of possible approaches, designs, and methods of assessment. Early predictions of the inexorability and inevitability of technology-based assessment such as Bennett 2006 have co-existed with more realistic accounts. Already the Review of Advanced E-Assessment Techniques acknowledged “very little evidence of some of the more advanced Web2 technologies being used for assessment purposes.” Scholars such as Gipps 2005; Gaytan and McEwen 2007; and Whitmer, et al. 2016 have similarly maintained that the quality-enhancement and transformative opportunities offered by technology to rethink instructional and assessment strategies had been largely disregarded or underutilized. This article will concentrate on the literature and scholarship around the contribution of technology to existing assessment methods and processes as opposed to their enhancement or transformation. Technology-based assessment encompasses a wide range of forms of assessment, and over the years has undergone shifts in focus. While some computer-based technologies and computer-assisted assessments have remained relatively stable or experienced modest growth (MCQ e-tests, e-exams, in-class student response systems, e-portfolios), other technologies such as those allowing for plagiarism detection, electronic submission (esubmission), and electronic marking (emarking) of coursework have become mainstream. The esubmission and emarking technologies literature has also transitioned from an interest in the experience and impact of such technologies on students and staff to a focus on the rolling out such technologies and the management of the technological, cultural, and pedagogical and process tensions around such implementation.
Bennett, Randy Elliot. 2006. Inexorable and inevitable: The continuing story of technology and assessment. Computer-Based Testing and the Internet: Issues and Advances 1.1: 201–217.
Focuses on developments in computerized testing. It argues for the inevitability of technology-based assessment in the education sector. This inevitability is underpinned by changes in ICT such as hardware becoming cheaper, integrated test authoring and delivery software being readily available, and improvements in connectivity and Internet. The optimistic tone is tempered by the acknowledgement that incorporating technology into assessment may not inevitably bring lasting educational benefit.
Gaytan, Jorge, and Beryl C. McEwen. 2007. Effective online instructional and assessment strategies. American Journal of Distance Education 21.3:117–132.
DOI: 10.1080/08923640701341653
Investigation of the perceptions held by students and faculty regarding instructional and assessment techniques in distance learning. Survey of staff (29) and students (332) revealed, among other aspects, that staff and students disagreed on the types of assessment that each saw as most effective. Defends the quality enhancements brought by a variety of online assessment instruments: rubrics, discussions, weekly assignments with feedback, use of portfolios, and tests in distance education.
Gipps, Caroline V. 2005. What is the role for ICT-based assessment in universities? Studies in Higher Education 30.2: 171–180.
DOI: 10.1080/03075070500043176
This paper represents an early warning of the sociocultural challenges of using ICT in assessment. It reviews the use of electronic assessment opportunities in the VLE in the early days of these becoming commonplace in HE and the scale of developments/uptake. Concludes that using ICT for assessment is a minority activity, the prevalent type being computer-based assessment and computer-based tests being direct transpositions of existing paper-based instruments.
Nicol, David. 2008. Technology-supported assessment: A review of research. Glasgow: Univ. of Strathclyde.
This paper is a review of research on ways in which technology may support different stages in the assessment from the author’s own educational framework. Departing from his seven principles of good practice, Nicol exemplifies ways how technology can be put to the service of best assessment and feedback practice.
Oldfield, A., P. Broadfoot, R. Sutherland, and S. Timmis. 2012. Assessment in a digital age: A research review. Graduate School of Education, Bristol: Univ. of Bristol.
A review of the literature on electronic assessment at primary, secondary, further education, and higher education levels in the United Kingdom and internationally with a focus on CAA. Over 150 sources are included; mainly from peer-reviewed, academic publications (primarily since 2000), augmented by gray literature, research and government reports, and relevant newspaper articles. Provides a short history of technology-enhanced assessment, the enablers and barriers to implementation, as well as the challenges and affordances. Available online.
Ripley, M., J. Tafler, J. Ridgway, R. Harding, and H. Redif. 2009. Review of advanced e-assessment techniques (RAeAT): Final report. Edited by M. Ripley. Bristol, UK: JiSC.
JiSC-commissioned review of state-of-the-art techniques in e-assessment, associated issues, and benefits of advanced e-assessments. Concludes that there is effective practice in e-assessment, but the take-up is patchy and the impact negligible. Outlines examples of advanced e-assessment and argues benefits in terms of broadening the range of assessment methods, deriving efficiencies from automatization, and providing routes to delivering greater consistency.
Shepard, Lorrie A. 2000. The role of assessment in a learning culture. Educational Researcher 29.7: 4–14.
DOI: 10.3102/0013189X029007004
Educational research paper examining the transformation of assessment practice and defending changes in practice in the direction of social-constructivist pedagogy. Shepard argues that while approaches to learning have moved in the direction of constructivism, approaches to assessment have remained inappropriately focused on testing and the underlying behaviorist learning theories and scientific measurement. Defends the reconceptualizing of assessment from a constructivist perspective.
Timmis, Sue, Patricia Broadfoot, Rosamund Sutherland, and Alison Oldfield. 2016. Rethinking assessment in a digital age: Opportunities, challenges and risks. British Educational Research Journal 42.3: 454–476.
DOI: 10.1002/berj.3215
The article takes the debate on electronic assessment beyond the strict realm of teaching and learning and examines critically risks and challenges of technology-enhanced assessment notably ethical concerns over social exclusion and new forms of digital dividedness. It outlines the risks associated with big data and ethical and policy considerations around the rise of learning analytics. Defends the rethinking of electronic assessment away from measurement and the re-purposing of assessment for student learning.
Whitmer, John, Nicolas Nuñez, Timothy Harfield, and Diego Forteza. 2016. Patterns in Blackboard Learn tool use: Five course design archetypes. Edited by Blackboard. US: Blackboard.
Empirical study of how VLE is used by faculty and students from a sample of seventy thousand HE courses in North America. Identified patterns in utilization of VLE tools and concluded that the large majority of courses (53 percent) placed heavy emphasis on being a repository of course materials, while online assessment tasks accounted for 6 percent of online time.
Whitelock, Denise, ed. 2009. Special Issue: eAssessment: Developing new dialogues for the digital age. British Journal of Educational Technology 40.2: 199–398.
DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8535.2008.00932.x
This special issue gathers case study contributions from various authors on how technology has the potential to offer new forms of assessment with immediate feedback to students. This special issue gathers a range of case studies on the potentially creative opportunities for innovation and for rethinking assessment purposes. It is worth noting, however, that most of the cases presented fall mainly in the field of testing either online exams, student response systems, or formative tests. Available online.
Users without a subscription are not able to see the full content on this page. Please subscribe or login.
How to Subscribe
Oxford Bibliographies Online is available by subscription and perpetual access to institutions. For more information or to contact an Oxford Sales Representative click here.
Article
- Academic Achievement
- Academic Audit for Universities
- Academic Freedom and Tenure in the United States
- Action Research in Education
- Adjuncts in Higher Education in the United States
- Administrator Preparation
- Adolescence
- Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate Courses
- Advocacy and Activism in Early Childhood
- African American Racial Identity and Learning
- Alaska Native Education
- Alternative Certification Programs for Educators
- Alternative Schools
- American Indian Education
- Animals in Environmental Education
- Art Education
- Artificial Intelligence and Learning
- Assessing School Leader Effectiveness
- Assessment, Behavioral
- Assessment, Educational
- Assessment in Early Childhood Education
- Assistive Technology
- Augmented Reality in Education
- Beginning-Teacher Induction
- Bilingual Education and Bilingualism
- Black Undergraduate Women: Critical Race and Gender Perspe...
- Black Women in Academia
- Blended Learning
- Bullying
- Case Study in Education Research
- Changing Professional and Academic Identities
- Character Education
- Children’s and Young Adult Literature
- Children's Beliefs about Intelligence
- Children's Rights in Early Childhood Education
- Citizenship Education
- Civic and Social Engagement of Higher Education
- Classroom Learning Environments: Assessing and Investigati...
- Classroom Management
- Coherent Instructional Systems at the School and School Sy...
- College Admissions in the United States
- College Athletics in the United States
- Community Relations
- Comparative Education
- Computer-Assisted Language Learning
- Computer-Based Testing
- Conceptualizing, Measuring, and Evaluating Improvement Net...
- Continuous Improvement and "High Leverage" Educational Pro...
- Counseling in Schools
- Creativity
- Critical Approaches to Gender in Higher Education
- Critical Perspectives on Educational Innovation and Improv...
- Critical Race Theory
- Crossborder and Transnational Higher Education
- Cross-National Research on Continuous Improvement
- Cross-Sector Research on Continuous Learning and Improveme...
- Cultural Diversity in Early Childhood Education
- Culturally Responsive Leadership
- Culturally Responsive Pedagogies
- Culturally Responsive Teacher Education in the United Stat...
- Curriculum Design
- Data Collection in Educational Research
- Data-driven Decision Making in the United States
- Deaf Education
- Desegregation and Integration
- Design Thinking and the Learning Sciences: Theoretical, Pr...
- Development, Moral
- Dialogic Pedagogy
- Digital Age Teacher, The
- Digital Citizenship
- Digital Divides
- Disabilities
- Distance Learning
- Distributed Leadership
- Doctoral Education and Training
- Early Childhood Education and Care (ECEC) in Denmark
- Early Childhood Education and Development in Mexico
- Early Childhood Education in Aotearoa New Zealand
- Early Childhood Education in Australia
- Early Childhood Education in China
- Early Childhood Education in Europe
- Early Childhood Education in Sub-Saharan Africa
- Early Childhood Education in Sweden
- Early Childhood Education Pedagogy
- Early Childhood Education Policy
- Early Childhood Education, The Arts in
- Early Childhood Mathematics
- Early Childhood Science
- Early Childhood Teacher Education
- Early Childhood Teachers in Aotearoa New Zealand
- Early Years Professionalism and Professionalization Polici...
- Economics of Education
- Education For Children with Autism
- Education for Sustainable Development
- Education Leadership, Empirical Perspectives in
- Education of Native Hawaiian Students
- Education Reform and School Change
- Educational Research Approaches: A Comparison
- Educational Statistics for Longitudinal Research
- Educator Partnerships with Parents and Families with a Foc...
- Emotional and Affective Issues in Environmental and Sustai...
- Emotional and Behavioral Disorders
- English as an International Language for Academic Publishi...
- Environmental and Science Education: Overlaps and Issues
- Environmental Education
- Environmental Education in Brazil
- Epistemic Beliefs
- Equity and Improvement: Engaging Communities in Educationa...
- Equity, Ethnicity, Diversity, and Excellence in Education
- Ethical Research with Young Children
- Ethics and Education
- Ethics of Teaching
- Ethnic Studies
- Europe, History of Education in
- Evidence-Based Communication Assessment and Intervention
- Family and Community Partnerships in Education
- Family Day Care
- Federal Government Programs and Issues
- Feminization of Labor in Academia
- Finance, Education
- Financial Aid
- Formative Assessment
- Future-Focused Education
- Gender and Achievement
- Gender and Alternative Education
- Gender, Power and Politics in the Academy
- Gender-Based Violence on University Campuses
- Gifted Education
- Girls' Education in the Developing World
- Global Mindedness and Global Citizenship Education
- Global University Rankings
- Governance, Education
- Grounded Theory
- Growth of Effective Mental Health Services in Schools in t...
- Higher Education and Globalization
- Higher Education and the Developing World
- Higher Education Faculty Characteristics and Trends in the...
- Higher Education Finance
- Higher Education Governance
- Higher Education Graduate Outcomes and Destinations
- Higher Education in Africa
- Higher Education in China
- Higher Education in Latin America
- Higher Education in the United States, Historical Evolutio...
- Higher Education, International Issues in
- Higher Education Management
- Higher Education Policy
- Higher Education Research
- Higher Education Student Assessment
- High-stakes Testing
- History of Early Childhood Education in the United States
- History of Education in the United States
- History of Technology Integration in Education
- Homeschooling
- Inclusion in Early Childhood: Difference, Disability, and ...
- Inclusive Education
- Indigenous Education in a Global Context
- Indigenous Learning Environments
- Indigenous Students in Higher Education in the United Stat...
- Infant and Toddler Pedagogy
- Inservice Teacher Education
- Integrating Art across the Curriculum
- Intelligence
- Intensive Interventions for Children and Adolescents with ...
- International Perspectives on Academic Freedom
- Intersectionality and Education
- Knowledge Development in Early Childhood
- Leadership Development, Coaching and Feedback for
- Leadership in Early Childhood Education
- Leadership Training with an Emphasis on the United States
- Learning Analytics in Higher Education
- Learning Difficulties
- Learning, Lifelong
- Learning, Multimedia
- Learning Strategies
- Legal Matters and Education Law
- LGBT Youth in Schools
- Linguistic Diversity
- Linguistically Inclusive Pedagogy
- Literacy
- Literacy Development and Language Acquisition
- Literature Reviews
- Mathematics Identity
- Mathematics Instruction and Interventions for Students wit...
- Mathematics Teacher Education
- Measurement for Improvement in Education
- Measurement in Education in the United States
- Meta-Analysis and Research Synthesis in Education
- Methodological Approaches for Impact Evaluation in Educati...
- Methodologies for Conducting Education Research
- Mindfulness, Learning, and Education
- Mixed Methods Research
- Motherscholars
- Motivation
- Multiliteracies in Early Childhood Education
- Multiple Documents Literacy: Theory, Research, and Applica...
- Multivariate Research Methodology
- Museums, Education, and Curriculum
- Music Education
- Narrative Research in Education
- Native American Studies
- Nonformal and Informal Environmental Education
- Note-Taking
- Numeracy Education
- One-to-One Technology in the K-12 Classroom
- Online Education
- Open Education
- Organizing for Continuous Improvement in Education
- Organizing Schools for the Inclusion of Students with Disa...
- Outdoor Play and Learning
- Outdoor Play and Learning in Early Childhood Education
- Pedagogical Leadership
- Pedagogy of Teacher Education, A
- Performance Objectives and Measurement
- Performance-based Research Assessment in Higher Education
- Performance-based Research Funding
- Phenomenology in Educational Research
- Philosophy of Education
- Physical Education
- Play
- Podcasts in Education
- Policy
- Policy Context of United States Educational Innovation and...
- Politics of Education
- Portable Technology Use in Special Education Programs and ...
- Post-humanism and Environmental Education
- Pre-Service Teacher Education
- Problem Solving
- Productivity and Higher Education
- Professional Development
- Professional Learning Communities
- Program Evaluation
- Programs and Services for Students with Emotional or Behav...
- Psychology Learning and Teaching
- Psychometric Issues in the Assessment of English Language ...
- Qualitative Data Analysis Techniques
- Qualitative, Quantitative, and Mixed Methods Research Samp...
- Qualitative Research Design
- Quantitative Research Designs in Educational Research
- Queering the English Language Arts (ELA) Writing Classroom
- Race and Affirmative Action in Higher Education
- Reading Education
- Refugee and New Immigrant Learners
- Relational and Developmental Trauma and Schools
- Relational Pedagogies in Early Childhood Education
- Reliability in Educational Assessments
- Religion in Elementary and Secondary Education in the Unit...
- Researcher Development and Skills Training within the Cont...
- Research-Practice Partnerships in Education within the Uni...
- Response to Intervention
- Restorative Practices
- Risky Play in Early Childhood Education
- Role of Gender Equity Work on University Campuses through ...
- Scale and Sustainability of Education Innovation and Impro...
- Scaling Up Research-based Educational Practices
- School Accreditation
- School Choice
- School Culture
- School District Budgeting and Financial Management in the ...
- School Improvement through Inclusive Education
- School Reform
- Schools, Private and Independent
- School-Wide Positive Behavior Support
- Science Education
- Secondary to Postsecondary Transition Issues
- Self-Regulated Learning
- Self-Study of Teacher Education Practices
- Service-Learning
- Severe Disabilities
- Single Salary Schedule
- Single-sex Education
- Single-Subject Research Design
- Social Context of Education
- Social Justice
- Social Network Analysis
- Social Pedagogy
- Social Science and Education Research
- Social Studies Education
- Sociology of Education
- Standards-Based Education
- Statistical Assumptions
- STEM-related Education, Indigenous Science Education and
- Student Access, Equity, and Diversity in Higher Education
- Student Assignment Policy
- Student Engagement in Tertiary Education
- Student Learning, Development, Engagement, and Motivation ...
- Student Participation
- Student Voice in Teacher Development
- Sustainability Education in Early Childhood Education
- Sustainability in Early Childhood Education
- Sustainability in Higher Education
- Teacher Beliefs and Epistemologies
- Teacher Collaboration in School Improvement
- Teacher Evaluation and Teacher Effectiveness
- Teacher Preparation
- Teacher Training and Development
- Teacher Unions and Associations
- Teacher-Student Relationships
- Teaching Critical Thinking
- Technologies, Teaching, and Learning in Higher Education
- Technology Education in Early Childhood
- Technology, Educational
- Technology-based Assessment
- The Bologna Process
- The Regulation of Standards in Higher Education
- Theories of Educational Leadership
- Three Conceptions of Literacy: Media, Narrative, and Gamin...
- Tracking and Detracking
- Traditions of Quality Improvement in Education
- Transformative Learning
- Transitions in Early Childhood Education
- Tribally Controlled Colleges and Universities in the Unite...
- Understanding the Psycho-Social Dimensions of Schools and ...
- University Faculty Roles and Responsibilities in the Unite...
- Using Ethnography in Educational Research
- Value of Higher Education for Students and Other Stakehold...
- Virtual Learning Environments
- Vocational and Technical Education
- Wellness and Well-Being in Education
- Women's and Gender Studies
- Young Children and Spirituality
- Young Children's Learning Dispositions
- Young Children's Working Theories