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

During the 20th century, the invention of the computer equally had profound impact on education which lead Educational developers to long ago demonstrate that they could program computers to work in schools as drill masters, tutors, testers, and schedulers of instruction. But until recently the cost of computer- based teaching systems was too high for most schools. With the development of small, quick, inexpensive microcomputers during the last decade, computing costs have dropped dramatically, and a computer revolution in education now seems a real possibility but questions arises as to, Will such a revolution have a beneficial effect on education--as the revolutions based on writing and printing did--or will it have negative effects? Most researchers believe that there is one straightforward way to answer this question. And that is to compare the performance of students who have learned with and without computer assistance. Outcome studies are commonly understood to be the basic way of determining whether instructional innovations help or hurt students. The earlier revolutions in education ran their courses without the benefit of such studies. No one tried to measure the effects of writing or of books when they were first introduced as tools in education. No one used statistical methods to predict or influence results. Earlier educational revolutions just happened--without measurement, prediction, or control. The computer revolution is different. It is occurring at a time when educators have tools for evaluating programs and tools for drawing general conclusions from a collection of evaluations. These tools have already been used in the evaluation of computer based instruction (harris et.al 2006).
2.2    PAPER-PEN BASED EXAM
The predominant mode of student’s assessment in Nigeria is the traditional method (written exam, paper pen exams or paper pen Testing (PPT) where students are assessed using paper and pen on cognitive abilities. The traditional method of assessment has imposed serious limitations to the effectiveness of the method. Presently, the traditional method in Nigeria is characterized by different form of examination malpractices such as bringing in unauthorised materials, writing on currency notes and identity cards, spying of other candidates in examination hall, substitution of answer sheets and change of examination scores or grades. Others include, impersonation, leakage of questions to students before the examination, conniving with supervisors and school authorities to cheat, body writing or tattoo in which students especially females write on hidden parts of their bodies (Adamu, 1998; Fagbemi 2001; Jacob and Lar, 2001; cited by Olatoye, n.d.). Alabi, Issa and Oyekunle (2012) corroborated this by identifying the PPT with many problems such as: Tedious processes as the examination was conducted at various and distant centres simultaneously and marked manually; high risks of accidents during travels by both the staff involved and the prospective students for the paper examination; cost of conduct of the examination on the part of the examination bodies including honoraria for invigilators, coordinators, markers collators and other allied staff; subjective scoring and plausible manipulation of results; late release of results and missing grades; bank draft method of payment by candidates riddled by fraud, loss of money, stress and trauma.
The above steps are very much prone to violation at any stage and it also involved heavy resources in terms of manpower and funding. Davey (2011) noted that a wide assortment of options are now available for using a computer to present information, facilitate interaction, and collect responses in ways not possible with traditional text-based items. The question is then how (or whether) these capabilities can be used to materially and substantively improve measurement. Assessment is central to the practice of education. For students, good performance on ‘high-stakes’ assessment gives access to further educational opportunities and employment. For teachers and schools, it provides evidence of success as individuals and institutions. Assessment systems provide the ways to measure individual and institutional success, and so can have a profound driving influence on systems they were designed to serve (Jim and Sean, 2006).
Examinations could be internal or external. It could be oral, written or both. Examples of internal examinations are continuous assessment tests, terminal, semester and annual or promotion examinations. Examples of external (public) examinations common in Nigerian schools are Common Entrance Examination for admission into secondary school.
Others include school certificates examination conducted by West African The threat of examination malpractices on the validity of examination has made some examination bodies to give excessive attention to checking examination malpractices even at the test development stage. Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) administers different question formats in which questions do not follow the same order. The alternatives under each question in a format do not also follow the same order. However, different examination bodies have put up efforts at combating the scourge of examination malpractices.
2.3    COMPUTER BASED EXAM
The Nigerian university system began the post-JAMB Screening Examinations in 2005 as a way of validating the scores obtained by candidates in the University Matriculation Examinations (UME) organized by the Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) (Alabi, Issa and Oyekunle, 2012). In relation to this, Electronic Test Company (ETC) introduced Computer based test into Nigeria education system for universities, schools, and companies. The introduction of CBT enables educators and trainers to author, schedule and deliver tests and examinations. As at 2011, ETC centers have locations at; University of Ilorin , Kwara State, Oba Akran Avenue Ikeja, Lagos, University of Lagos, Lagos, University of Agriculture, Makurdi, Federal University of Technology, Minna, University of Maiduguri, University of Ibadan, Oyo State. Additional centers’ are currently under construction all over Nigeria with