Reduction of teacher workload in a formative assessment environment through use of online technology

One of the difficulties encountered in practicing formative assessment type of education is the teacher´s workload. The time required of a teacher involved in a formative assessment system of education is easily six folds or more that of a teacher in the traditional education system. However, the modern computer and communication technology could be utilized to reduce this amount of workload. This paper reports the findings of an investigation on the reduction of teacher workload using an online system accessible by the students. It is seen that the time required of the teacher in the formative assessment environment could be reduced from the initial 580% to about 150% through the use of online technology. The result was positive. The paper also discussed some possible solutions to further reduce the amount of workload.