The impact of coursework, peer assessment, tests and Online quizzes on Makerere University Education students' attitude towards curriculum course units..

Abstract

The present study aimed to cover a holistic viewpoint towards assessment and its features. It discussed the impact of formative assessment (FA) methods on students’ attitude towards learning of curriculum course works. This study sought to present some notes on the current assessment strategies used by the institutions. Assessment and feedback are central to learning and teaching and are essential components for any further development when they are approached appropriately. Traditionally, assessing students‟ progress in any subject or discipline and providing feedback as a reflection of that progress is normally varied. The current study mainly focuses on how the use of coursework, peer assessment, tests and online quizzes, as the most useful type of assessment, impact on Makerere Education students’ attitude towards the Curriculum course units. The effectiveness of each assessment method in contributing towards students’ attitudes were determined, and this was quite a vital contributor to the learning and teaching process especially when it is followed by real formative feedback. It is assumed that both formative assessment and formative feedback have an overwhelming influence on what students learn and how teachers teach. This study investigated such an influence through a collected 341 questionnaires, at Makerere University, School of Education, Uganda, where Curriculum course units are primarily taught for specific purposes in all the academic years. Based on the findings, the study established that there is a significant impact of coursework, peer assessment, online quizzes and tests on students' attitude towards curriculum course unit. The study established that coursework as an assessment method had a positive impact on students ‘attitude towards curriculum course unit while peer assessment, tests and online quizzes had a negative impact on students' attitude towards curriculum course units. From the collected data, students’ attitudes towards the curriculum course units decreased in the following trend; with the use of course work as the FA method, followed by the use of peer assessment, followed by the use of online quizzes and then tests as the FA method. In conclusion, formative assessment has a great role to play in the teaching and learning process. Actually, it is the backbone of the learning process. The study exposed the factor that it is beneficial to both instructors and students. It provides timely feedback to them to keep the driving on track towards the destination i.e. the targeted goals. It enhances the performance of the teacher and student to make them aware of the flaws during the learning process. It was revealed that assessment, to some extent lost its main features and objectives of recent due to some ineffectiveness involved with the use of different assessment methods/strategies. Moreover, it was noticed that academic integrity is still deficient despite the highest levels of precautionary actions taken by the teachers and institutions in assessment strategies, fore stance online platforms. From the study, coursework is highly recommended when it comes to the assessment of students since it assesses for learning and it’s quite effective in stimulating learning as students show a highly positive attitude toward this assessment method. However, it is further recommended to use more than one assessment method during the assessment for learning, for instance, the use of both coursework and peer assessment. This caters for students’ individual differences in class, so as to affect learning since learners show different responsiveness and attitudes towards different FA methods.