Preliminary Assessment of Online Student-Generated Tests for Learning

Abstract

Whilenoting that constructing “tests” is different from constructing questions, its use for learning is yet to be explored. A study involving a total of 54 student teachers was conducted. An online student-generated tests system supporting associated tasks was adopted. Preliminary data on students’ perceptions with regard to its use as an assessment and learning approach, as compared to teacher-generated tests, were collected and analyzed. Several important findings were obtained. First, more than three-quarters of the participants preferred student-generated test as the approach for assessing their learning. Second, the majority of the participants thought student-generated tests promote better learning. Third, based on chi-square goodness of fit tests (X2), students’ preference to and perceptions of student-generated tests and teacher-generated tests were statistically significant at p< .01. Finally, students’ written responses analyzed using the constant comparative method indicated that student-generated testsis a promising assessment and learning approach. Based on the collected data, suggestions for online system developments of similar kindsand instructional implementations are provided.