The Implementations and Challenges of Continuous Assessment in Public Universities of Eastern Ethiopia

Abstract

The study was aimed to investigate the implementations and challenges of continuous assessment in selected Public Universities of Eastern Ethiopia. Descriptive survey research design was employed to carry out this study because it is used to describe the characteristics of a given population in a systematic and accurate fashion. Stratified random sampling technique was employed to collect pertinent information from the respondents through questionnaire and observational checklists. To make the interpretation of the findings easier, the researchers used both descriptive and inferential statistics. The first finding was that almost the implementations of continuous assessment in these selected universities were very poor. The second finding was that there was statistically a significant mean difference among these public universities in utilizing and implementing continuous assessment; the third finding was that there was statistically significant mean difference among these sampled respondents in implementing the three domains of educational objectives; the fourth interesting finding was that the implemented continuous assessment type was highly dominated by cognitive, followed by affective and then psychomotor domains respectively. Finally, it was recommended that instructors should implement continuous assessment not only for the sake of evaluating and marking students' result but also for the sake of learning skills and practices.

Continuous Online Assessment at a South African Open Distance and e-Learning Institution

“…Continuous Assessment (CA) is described as the use of a variety of graded or voluntary (Day et al, 2018c) tasks or activities during the teaching period instead of a single final exam (Abera et al, 2017). CA is characterized by frequent assessments (Walde, 2021) aimed at improving student learning, student engagement and providing feedback to students (Day et al, 2018c).…”

“…Implementation of continuous assessment in higher education is, however, not always successful, particularly in contexts where the conditions of learning are not adequate (Abera et al, 2017;Walde, 2021).…”

Improving the Effectiveness of Teacher Assessment in Higher Education: A Case Study of Professors’ Perceptions in Morocco

“…The field of teacher assessment has grown in most industrialised countries since the 1990s (Lessard & Carpentier, 2015;Romainville, Goasdoué, & Vantourout, 2012). In developing countries, the implementation of teacher assessment was also the object of research as it started to be more common, raising some challenges (Abera, Kedir, & Beyabeyin, 2017). Socioeconomic factors and the trends of decentralisation which go hand in hand with school autonomy and responsibility are leading school authorities to increasingly recognise the importance of teacher assessment (Lessard, 2004).…”

Implementing Continuous Assessment in an Academic Programme for More Effective Learning

“…A lack of knowledge of the principles of CA and a lack of proper planning invariably lead to failure. This was highlighted by Holcroft (2014) in his investigation of the (failed) implementation of CA by the Gauteng Department of Education in South Africa, and Abera, Kedir and Beyabeyin (2017) in their research on the implementation of CA in public universities in eastern Ethiopia. One can hear the desperation in the words of Walde (2016, 542-3) when he laments the state of CA at the Mettu University in Ethiopia:…”