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Other benefits and issues

Automatic marking & reliability of scoring
Questions are automatically marked so there is no need for double marking and scores are electronically calculated avoiding the risk of human errors.

Immediate feedback
Students get immediate feedback with the possibility of retaking the test and learn from their mistakes.

Monitoring progress
Academics can monitor the progress of students through frequent use of assessments. Students can monitor their own progress and revise and rehearse at their own pace.

Transferable skill for students
Up to 30% of private companies have an electronic system in place to screen candidates who have better chances of succeeding in being short listed if they are familiar with online testing


Follow this link to watch Helen Phillips of the University of Bristol Language Centre talk about why they have adopted CAA for formative testing.


Other advantages of CAA have also attracted some academics to experiment:

  • Hints and links to further resources can be incorporated into test questions
  • Academics can monitor the progress of students through frequent use of assessments
  • Students can monitor their own progress and revise and rehearse at their own pace
  • Detailed and specific feedback can be given to students during and immediately after a test
  • Tutors can assign different learning activities to students based on their test results

But there are issues as well:
  • Front loaded work to create new questions

Building a bank of questions is one of the issues in moving from paper delivery to online delivery. However, thanks to the enhanced interoperability between systems it is now possible to import and export existing banks of questions between different systems provided that they are saved in electronic format.

  • Security

Security can be an issue if students are not supervised while taking the assessment. A secure login with username and password can add extra security.

  • Objective, closed-ended questions only

Open ended questions can be submitted through the system but they will need to be marked manually. New assessments systems, like a VLE or dedicated tools like questionmark have integrated essay grading features which allow you to set specific criteria so that the persons marking the essays are guided to apply consistent marking scheme.