Abstract:
The use of ICT in assessment, marking and reporting is known as e-assessment. E-assessment
provides a good solution when the number of students increase compared with the staff ratio. Eassessment
fits with conventional objectives of assessment. Assessments measure the performance of
the students compared with the learning objectives of the course. Assessment results are very
important for students to identify their performance and show their grades to society and also, for
lecturers to take the instructional decisions. Researchers believe that Information Technology offers a
powerful tool to improve the assessment criteria. E-assessment is the one of effective tools used in
many educational programs.
Sri Lanka Institute of Advanced Technological Education (SLIATE) offers Higher National Diploma
courses in many disciplines. At the end of each fifteen week semester SLIATE conducts
examinations. Student enrollment is increasing each year. But the number of lecturers is not
increasing. Therefore student staff ratio is high. This becomes a burning issue when evaluating answer
scripts, because it needs a lot of human effort and time. Delays in issuing results is also another
problem. Compared with conventional assessment methods, e-assessment provides many advantages
such as less human effort for organizing and evaluating answer scripts, and issuing results quickly and
at low cost.
This study employed the qualitative research method. Conceptual framework for the study was
developed based on the literature review and considered key factors are technology, attitudes and
assessment methods. Data were gathered through the expert survey, interviews with key stakeholders
and questionnaires.
The findings are discussed in relation to literature. From analysis of the findings, the key issues
affecting e-assessment systems are attitude of the stakeholders and technology infrastructure. Basic
technology infrastructures are available but they are inadequate. Various assessment methods are used
at the moment from the structured questions and multiple choice questions are easily converted to eassessment
methods. Delay in issuing results is mainly based on the high number of answer script in
some subjects.
