Creating Authentic E-Examination Questions Using Authenticity Variables

• Published in: Lecture Notes in Educational Technology
• Main Author: Bakar A.A.; Azmy N.; Romli A.; Ahmad M.A.; Mohd I.H.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Springer Science and Business Media Deutschland GmbH 2024
• Online Access: https://www.scopus.com/inward/record.uri?eid=2-s2.0-85218110278&doi=10.1007%2f978-981-97-4507-4_48&partnerID=40&md5=b834944ef11755c91523234867eb36fd

The Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia has recently unveiled hybrid-flexible (HyFlex) education initiatives, allowing learners to experience a cutting-edge method that blends in-person and online learning. One of the notable challenges of HyFlex is the pedagogical aspect, specifically the significant hurdles encountered in assessing students in online learning. Academic integrity is easily compromised, particularly in online examinations. The integration of artificial intelligence, such as ChatGPT, adds an additional layer of complexity to this challenge. Consequently, there has been a growing need for improved question design based on the principle of authenticity. Although literature on authentic assessment exists, a systematic approach to creating authentic e-examination questions has yet to be established. This paper aims to investigate the effect of incorporating authenticity variables from authentic tasks and projects into e-examination questions. To understand the effect, we analyzed the performance and questionnaire responses of 153 students enrolled in a second-year subject across three semesters during the pandemic. Our findings demonstrate that the implementation of authentic e-examination questions using this approach effectively discourages academic misconduct amongst students. While students perceived the questions as more difficult, their performance remained satisfactory. We recommend replicating the approach outlined in this paper when creating rich context in injecting realism in examination questions. © The Author(s).