According to Bachelor of Corporate Communication (Honours) student Winnie Koo Hui Yan, online assessments are much more challenging due to the nature of its open-ended questions, which require students to frequently apply higher-order thinking skills. Students have to understand, combine and apply all the skills and knowledge they have learned throughout the semester and give their own justifications and opinions to answer the questions, instead of just memorising and retrieving the answers from the lecture notes and textbooks. According to Winnie Koo, this could prove worthwhile as it encourages students to think out of the box and come up with creative answers. However, she did point out that these online assessments give more time to students to complete it, as opposed to final examinations, albeit that certain subjects’ online assessments have a shorter timeframe. Since the assessments have an “open-book” disposition, the students also feel less stressful as they need not rack their brains to memorise things.
Winnie Koo also felt positive about the evaluation of the online assessment,
since it grades them based on individual marks. Moreover, as discussions
with lecturers and peers are not allowed, students need to complete the
questions without guidance, which not only tests their knowledge and
understanding of the course content and syllabus but also helps to prevent
“free-riding” among peers. When asked about the possibility of plagiarism
issues, Winnie Koo pointed out that UTAR
has always strictly implemented a minimum percentage of plagiarism and with
such a rule, it motivates the students to use their own sentences and words
when citing researchers and academic authors to avoid any deduction of marks
or worse, failure. Moreover, she also stated that students’ knowledge of the
fact that UTAR lecturers are using Turnitin, a plagiarism detector software,
to check for any plagiarism in their online assessments, further ensures
that the students phrase their citations using their own words.
Bachelor of International Business (Honours) student Tan Wei Jien voiced out his concern over the problems and difficulties faced by students during the online assessment. According to him, some students may not have access to a strong and stable internet connection. They also may have a shorter submission deadline, ranging from a few hours to a day. Thus, he feels that students with limited deadlines and unstable internet connection will face an uphill task in completing the online assessments. However, Tan does concur with the beneficial nature of the online assessments. He said, “Online assessments are beneficial because we do not need to memorise theories for an open-book exam.”
Bachelor of Communication (Honours) Journalism student Chang Chee Ching
noted the favorability of these online assessments in terms of convenience.
Students no longer need to travel to the exam venue, which saves a lot of
time. Instead, they can simply complete it in the comforts of their own home
and leisurely take their time with it. This could help relieve some of the
stress that the students face when completing the assessment as they would
feel more relaxed and have a clear mind when answering the questions.
On the contrary, she also said that a number of students faced difficulties
in completing their final assessments due to the weak connection of the
internet. She said that such an occurrence would be unfair and that it may
indirectly hinder the students’ academic progress.
The current online assessment, according to Bachelor of Science (Honours) Quantity Surveying student Chak Wei Hong, is rather challenging, especially when conducted at home because there are students who do not have a stable internet connection. He also felt that the time limit following these assessments makes it even more difficult, as students cannot predict if and when their internet connection will be stable. He further noted that while he may have completed the assessments on time, there was still worries that a sudden poor internet connection may occur during that period, causing him not to be able to submit his answers. Despite all that, Chak felt that online assessments are advantageous because students do not need to memorise all the theories and tedious content from the notes, as they would be when studying for the standard final examination. Instead, students can express their own comments and opinions to answer the questions, based on what they have learned throughout the semester.
According to Chak, although the final assessments are certainly tougher than the physical exams due to the complex questions and the need for a deeper understanding of it, he feels that this assessment method is better as it allows them to elaborate their answers in a creative manner. Lastly, Chak stated that these online assessments would not lead to more plagiarism issues. This is because most students know that UTAR has a very serious stance on plagiarism issues and views it as a consequential offence, therefore they would avoid the risk of plagiarizing authors and researchers in their answers.
Sharing a similar thought with Chang Chee Ching, Bachelor of Arts (Honours)
Chinese Studies student Loo Yi Min commented that online assessments are
less stressful because she can leisurely complete the online assessments in
a comfortable and familiar environment; her own home. The same can be
applied to other students. She also concurred that online assessments are
advantageous because students are given an adequate amount of time to
prepare for the exam. Besides, she also pointed out that unlike physical
final examination, where students have to constantly read and memorise their
notes, the online assessment does not require them to do so, which further
gives them the time to prepare for whatever questions that will be coming
out.
Sharing her positive view towards the online assessment, Loo further added
that it provides a fair assessment of students’ capabilities. She said, “The
questions of the final assessments are more focused on students’ opinion
based on the knowledge that they have gained throughout the semester, making
this examination format much more equitable compared to a physical final
examination because the latter was mainly about how well students can
memorise theories and the lecture notes to answer the questions, as opposed
to applying their understanding of the subject to complete the exam.”
Bachelor of Information Technology (Honours) Computer Engineering student
Germaine Liew Jun Yuan said, “It was a new experience for all the students,
but personally for me, I did not face many issues during the online
assessment period as I have practised online open-book tests previously.”
However, he did admit that there were several technical hiccups that he and
other students faced while completing the assessment. Some of the faults
stem from the students themselves, such as poor time management. Germaine
Liew was uncertain about the beneficial nature of the online assessments,
but he noted that given the current pandemic, this was the only viable
option for the university and the students.
Although Germaine Liew was uncertain about the fairness of the assessments,
he stated that the exam format helped students to cope with the sudden
transition to online learning. Even though the online assessment is
essentially an open-book exam, students still need to understand the content
of the lessons in order to effectively answer the questions. Thus, in
essence, these assessments helped students to get used to the online
learning system. When asked about the likelihood of plagiarism issues,
Germaine Liew said that plagiarism is not an issue in UTAR. He pointed out
that UTAR has already taken measures to prevent plagiarism, like the
Turnitin system. As such, students cannot easily copy from their friends or
directly off an article or research paper from the internet for their
answers.
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