Continuous assessment and interactive response systems in higher education

Abstract

There is evidence that the use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) has the potential to improve assessment methods, and therefore, learning process and results. This study compares the effect of two different types of assessment on the learning results of university students: traditional continuous assessment (TCA) and continuous assessment with the interactive response system Educlick (CAE). A quasi-experimental study with 364 students of the degree in Primary Education was conducted. Partial and final marks obtained with TCA and CAE were analysed and the influence of both assessments on the final examination (FE) was considered. It was also studied the different psychological variables that influence the assessment process, which were present in the intervention groups. To this aim, a descriptive analysis of data using the Mann-Whitney and Kruskal-Wallis non-parametric tests were developed through SPSS software. Results revealed a higher percentage of passes (81.5% compared to 74.5%), better marks and higher attendance of the first FE among students assessed with CAE (99.3%) as opposed to students assessed with TCA (91.7%). Findings underline the importance of implementing innovative technological methods, such as the interactive resource proposed in this paper, to develop new and improved skill-based competences in the teaching-learning process.