Students’ Perceptions of E-assessment at a Higher Education Institution

The improvement of technology and e-learning systems, has resulted in a high demand for ways and means of assessing students in such a system. Assessment is indeed a critical part of the teaching and learning process in any higher education institution. The purpose of this study was to investigate how information technology (IT) students perceive and/or experience the role of e-assessment in their own learning through the Moodle LMS. The study was conducted through a qualitative method, where a self-administered online questionnaire was used as the data collection tool. QSRNvivo, which is software for analysing qualitative data, was used during the data management and analysis process of this research. The findings indicated that the student participants had both positive and negative experiences and/or perceptions of e-assessment in their own learning. The positive experiences and/or perceptions of e-assessment that students mentioned were the ability to interact with technology, "anywhere" and "anytime" accessibility of tasks, ability to solve complex tasks, prompt feedback and assessment results, and the ability to engage in a discussion forum. Regarding the negative experiences and/or perceptions, students mentioned power failures, compatibility issues, unstable network, the inability to access e-assessment tasks due to server problems, difficulty in navigating through e-assessment tasks, login issues, and the inability to change answers. Institutions must provide enough infrastructure, resources and training before implementing e-assessment tasks.