Assessing Undergraduate’s Attitude and Academic Engagement in Computer-Based Test Courses in Nigerian University
Muhinat Bolanle Bello & Iyanuoluwa Grace Oyedepo
Department of Social Sciences Education, Faculty of Education, University of Ilorin
Abstract
Academic engagement and attitude are required for a successful classroom teaching and learning process. Successful teaching and achievement come with assessment which takes different forms, it could be through Computer-Based Tests or Paper Pencil Tests. When it is a Computer-based test, students’ attitudes and level of academic engagement become questionable. That was why the study investigated Lecturers' and Students’ assessments of undergraduates’ attitudes and academic engagement toward courses examined through computer-based tests, in a Nigerian University. Four research questions were raised and answered. The study adopted descriptive survey research. The population for this study comprised all students and lecturers at the University of Ilorin. The target population is 300 level students’ of the Sampled University. Also, 365 students and 102 lecturers made a total of 467 respondents which were sampled through a multistage sampling technique. Eight out of 16 faculties were sampled using a purposive sampling technique. A 4-point Likert-scale researchers’ designed questionnaire on attitude and a two-point scale for academic engagement titled “Lecturers’ and Students’ Assessment of Undergraduates’ Academic Engagement and Attitude towards Computer-Based Test Courses in a Nigerian University”, were used to elicit the needed data for the study. With psychometric properties of content validity and a reliability index of 0.79. The data collected were analyzed using descriptive statistics. Frequency count, percentage and mean were used to answer the research questions. Findings revealed that the lecturer’s assessment of the student’s attitude is low while the student’s assessment of attitude is high. Both Lecturers and Students assessed undergraduate’s level of academic engagement toward courses examined through Computer-based tests as low. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended that the lecturer should make the teaching-learning process activities based on always motivating students’ attitudes positively regardless of the mode of examining them.
Keywords
Attitudes, Computer-Based Test, Lecturers, academic, and engagement
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