A Comparison Of Performance Of Radiography Students On Computer Based (electronic Examination) And Written Examinations
[A CASE STUDY OF UNIVERSITY OF MAIDUGURI]

CHAPTER TWO: THEORETICAL BACKGROUND
2.0    LITERATURE REVIEW
A large body of literature already exists on online assessment using computers and paper. A study by Ayo (2007) on Nigerian University stated that 81.3% of the applicants were computer literate, while the remaining 18.7% were guided through the examination. The total number 1023 (75.7%) of respondents who participated in the e-examination conducted in Covenant University took electronic examination for the first time and as such found the examination easy, a few found it a little challenging but adjusted with time. The study revealed that only 327 (24.2%) of the applicants had not been involved in any form of electronic examination before, and found it difficult.
Gary (2008) at the University of New South Wales, Sydney studied the effect of online formative assessment on learning. The outcomes support the contention that integrated well designed online formative assessments can have significant positive effects on learning. Web based formative assessments also support equity and inclusiveness by allowing students to attempt each assessment anonymously on multiple occasions at any time.
Lim, et al., (2006) examined medical students’ attitude about computer based testing (CBT) Vs paper based testing (PBT) or paper & pen (P&P) in Singapore. Through an online survey, 213 (53.5%) final-year MBBS students were tested out of which 91 (79.8%) preferred CBT, 11 (9.6%) preferred P&P format and 12 (10.5%) were un-sure. The study found that 42 indicated they liked CBT because of good quality of images and independent of assigned seating positions; 22 liked CBT because they could proceed at their own pace; 1 stated that CBT examinations was fun; 4 enjoyed the convenience of CBT and 6 cited “equality” as the reason they preferred CBT over P&P testing.
Similarly, Donn (1991) found that the mean achievement score was significantly higher for the computer-based group in a study of the effects of a CBT on the achievement and test anxiety exploring the relationship between computer anxiety and computer experience and assessing the affective impact of computerized testing on students. There were neither a significant difference in text anxiety between the groups, on the one hand nor a significant relationship between their computer experience and anxiety owing to taking the CBT. The conclusion reached by the study that if computerized test-taking tasks are kept simple, even test-takers with minimal computer experience may not be disadvantaged, was informed by respondents‟ positive reactions toward CBT generally. Research outcomes have thus supported the fact that when students are motivated and testing conditions are equivalent, there are no differences between the scores obtained via computer-based or paper-pencil tests (Lynch, 1997 and Marson, Patry, and Berstein, 2001). Other research results suggest that although students may be disadvantaged, at the initial stage, which may account for why Wingenbach (2000) found no significant associations between academic achievement and students‟ attitudes towards computers, computing anxiety levels, attitudes towards electronic examinations, or gender by the introduction of CBT, such a setback was temporary (Ricketts and Wilks, 2002). Thus the initial low academic achievement in CBT, occasioned by such detrimental effects as computing and/or test anxiety soon disappeared as later CBT examinations produced impressive academic achievement for many respondents. The most recent endorsement of this viewpoint came from Tella and Bashorun (2012) in a study whose results demonstrated that the University of Ilorin students, their respondents, have positive attitude towards CBT as more than half of them indicated preference for CBT over PPT in addition to establishing a strong perception that CBT increase respondents‟ performance in learning. Scalise and Gifford (2006)
Moreover, other studies have been carried out on computer-mediated examinations, students’ perceptions, students’ attitude and performance, and found out that students believed the traditional PPT enhanced their performance while CBT had a negative effect, and other varied results (Dermo and Eyre, 2008; George, 2011. Studies on gender influence on students’ perception of e- assessment have been done by Kadel (2005), Bebetos and Antonio (2008) and Ayo, et al (2007). The literature has shown both positive attitude and high regard to e-assessment, with more positive perception by female students. Most of these studies used structured questionnaire as instrument. The reviewed studies provided direction for this study
2.1    HISTORY
The history of education is largely a story of gradual evolution, but education has also had its revolutions. The first use of writing as a tool in teaching transformed education many centuries ago when it freed teachers from the constraints of oral tradition where information is disseminated through the use of mouth and questions regarding the subject is answered by the teacher and the teacher is the only means of reference to any question regarding the particular subject and there were no records of hard copy information but rather an audio information which is stored by individuals through hearing who are expected to pass on the information from one generation to another in other to ensure continuity of information, values, culture and history.
The oral education was the most widespread means of assessing an individual’s learning through a good old fashion heated debate between a number of learned people all at the same time and lasting for two hours or more. It was only towards the end of the 18th century that the movement was made away from oral examinations to written ones and it wasn’t until 1828 that all papers were in printed form rather than being dictated. The invention of printing in the 15th century made books widely available and caused a great change in the history of education.