Designing formative assessment in physics course in higher education

Abstract

Assessment in education through web tools, which is also known as e-assessment, deals with the main question of how to use technology in an effective way that supports a successful pedagogy. The aim of this study was to investigate the learning outcomes and the attitudes of students to online Moddle quizzes as part of the course. The research population included 204 students who participated in an introductory physics course at the college. Learning model was designed based on face to face large traditional lectures, practice sessions held with smaller groups of about 25 students and a rich Moodle learning environment. The students' knowledge was assessed by ordinary short written tests and online quizzes. Attitudes were investigated by a questionnaire. Results indicate a general positive attitude towards online quizzes with no differences in respect to gender. A positive significant correlation was found between attitudes and scores in online quizzes. Compering data from the first and the last attempts in the online quiz revealed significant improvements in the time spent solving and the grade. Three variables were found as significant predictors of the grade in the final exam: science department, average grade in written tests and average grade in online quizzes.