Abstract :
Computing-related programmes and modules have many problems, especially
related to large class sizes, large-scale plagiarism, module franchising, and an
increased requirement from students for increased amounts of hands-on,
practical work. This paper presents a practical computer networks module
which uses a mixture of online examinations and a practical skills-based test
to assess student performance. For widespread adoption of practical
assessments, there must be a level of checking that the practical assessments
are set at a level that examinations are set at. This paper shows that it is possible
to set practical tests so that there can be a strong correlation between practical
skills-based tests and examination-type assessments, but only if the practical
assessment are set at a challenging level. This tends to go against the
proposition that students who are good academically are not so good in a
practice test, and vice versa. The paper shows results which bands students in
A, B, C, and FAIL groups based on two online, multiple-choice tests, and then
analyses the average time these students took to complete a practical online
test. It shows that there is an increasing average time to complete the test for
weaker students. Along with this, the paper shows that female students in the
practical test outperform male students by a factor of 25%.
