The Effects of Internet-Based Formative and Summative Assessment on Test Anxiety, Perceptions of Threat, and Achievement.

This study evaluated the instructional benefits and barriers related to the use of online formative and summative assessment tools. Data were collected from samples of undergraduate students in different semesters to allow for differential use of summative assessment (paper versus online delivery). Formative assessment was manipulated by providing online practice quizzes that students could freely access to prepare for the course examinations. For the computer-based summative assessment sample, the quiz access was restricted to only the final two course exams. The impact of computer-based summative and formative assessments on test anxiety, perceptions of tests as threatening events, study skills, and exam performance was investigated. It was anticipated that those students who used the formative assessment quizzes frequently would have significantly higher scores than those who used the quizzes infrequently. These variations in performance could be attributed to group differences in willingness to use study materials and tools; therefore, control of the availability of quizzes was maintained in part of the study to allow for a baseline test, to ensure that differences observed in performance across groups of students using the quizzes could be more confidently attributed to formative assessment use. The online summative tool was anticipated to have no strong impact on the level of anxiety, emotionality, or perceived level of threat posed by the tests. The expectation was that students would hold similar ratings of these affective constructs, regardless of test format. Data support providing online formative and summative assessments in undergraduate courses. Although the data do not allow for declaration that the formative assessment tools decrease cognitive test anxiety, there are relevant gains in course examination performance based on use of the quizzes, particularly for the group of students taking summative assessment tests online. Furthermore, the data demonstrated that there were no disadvantages to using online summative assessment regarding anxiety, emotionality, or study behaviors, and there was actually an advantage in the domain of perceived threat imposed by the impending test. (Contains 23 references.) (AEF) Reproductions supplied by EDRS are the best that can be made from the original document. 1 The Effects of InternetBased Formative and Summative Assessment on Test Anxiety, Perceptions of Threat, and Achievement Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Educational Research Association April 12 2001, Seattle WA Jerrell C. Cassady' Judey Budenz-Anders Department of Educational Psychology Ball State University Gary Pavlechko Wayne Mock Center for Teaching Technology Ball State University PERMISSION TO REPRODUCE AND DISSEMINATE THIS MATERIAL HAS BEEN GRANTED BY