Students' attitudes towards university assessment practices: the case of Dilla University
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Date
2009-06
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Addis Ababa Universty
Abstract
This study focuses on students' attitudes towards assessment practices in Dilla
University. A questionnaire was developed to measure students' perceptions of and
attitudes towards the educational assessment practices in the university. It relates to: (a)
frequencies of use of assessment techniques, and (b) attitudes with regards to department
admission procedures, assessment tasks, exams, feedback, and grading practices. The
questionnaire was validated for its content and piloted for its reliability. As the result,
most of the items were seen to be appropriate and every item was considered of
important by most of the students. Moreover, the questionnaire resulted with good
reliability of(O. 70). And data were collectedfrom 154 second and 149 third year students
from three different faculties in the university. Approximately, 90% of the students
(n=303) valid responses were obtained In addition, two focused group discussions were
held focusing on their evaluations to the practices in the university. Results indicated that
students perceived examinations as the most often used methods to assess students in the
university. Also the results showed that there are positive and negative students' attitudes
to the practices. And Exams and grading practices were found to be the serious concerns
for the students. Furthermore, results indicated that the most related problems to
effective assessment practices in the university is lack of pedagogical training, lack of
transparency and accountability, biases, and lack of assessment policies. However,
students believe that the problems to effective assessment practices can be solved using
certain interventions. Additional analyses indicated that there were no significant
differences between subjects according to field of study, sex of respondents, and
achievement in the university. On the other hand, the results showed significant
differences between subjects according to students' year in the university (t=12.34,
p<.05).Finally, conclusions were arrived based on the findings and the results are
examined with a view of their implications for student lerning and assessment in higher
education~
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Education