THE CASE OF BA ISAGO UNIVERSITY COLLEGE.
By
B. Bushe, and O. Chiwira
This form of assessment will allow students the
opportunity to understand their abilities and gain the
knowledge appropriate for their level of studies.
Formative assessment comes largely in the format of
coursework, projects, periodic class tests and
participation in class.
 Summative assessments are usually in the form of
semester-end examinations. This form of assessment
allows the cumulative skills and knowledge of the
students to be applied at the end of the semester and
assess the students holistically.
 The word formative assessment is used for mock
examinations at BA ISAGO University College.
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 The
fundamental role of assessment is to
provide authentic and meaningful feedback
for improving student learning, instructional
practice and educational options. In this sense
assessment is not an end in itself. It is a
process that should give answers to two basic
questions namely. How are we doing? How
can we do better? (Herman, Aschbacher and
Winters, 1992).
At Informatics a global player in private tertiary
headquartered in Malaysia conducts two major
assessments, namely, formative and summative
assessments, (Informatics, 2007:24).
 Formative assessment is the ongoing assessment
during the term while summative assessment is the
final one that normally takes place at the end of the
course and determines the final outcome of the award.
According to Informatics, (2007:24).
 A formative assessment ensures that students are
continuously being assessed and regular feedbacks are
given to students to ensure that they are able to review
their strengths and weaknesses.
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To examine the impact of alternative
assessment on final assessment so that
policies, strategies, and procedures that
ensure that the success of future assessment
initiatives are secured.
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H1: There will be no positive relationship
between student use of formative
assessment tasks and their overall
performance in a particular course.
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Is there a strong relationship between IE and EA
(UNISA exams, for example)
Does IE enhance students preparedness for final
examinations
What are the causes of failure amongs our students
Has BAISAGO done enough to improve student
preparedness for final assessments
What can be done to improve student performance
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To examine the internal assessment
processes to enhance student performance at
final assessment
To find out of there is any relationship
between internal and external assessment
To examine the causes of student failure rates
summative assessments
To recommend courses of action to improve
student performance
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Conducting this study is important for three reasons.
First, the study will contribute to the stock of available
theoretical knowledge in the subject area of assessment
in tertiary education.
Despite the fact that the subject of assessment is a
topical issue in the study of social science the subject still
remains under researched in Africa, let alone Botswana.
As pointed out earlier, there are no studies that we are
aware of that have conducted an analysis of assessment
procedures in private tertiary institutions in Botswana.
Furthermore, there is no adequate information on other
aspects of the assessment such as the authenticity of
internal examinations towards final assessment.
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Second, the study will generate information (knowledge)
that could form the basis for policy formulation in the
management of assessment in tertiary education in the
country as a whole. Although the study was initiated for
explanation purposes and not primarily for policy, the
knowledge accruing through it will form an important
base from which policy makers and managers can draw
in their initiatives to revamp the private tertiary sector
and other related institutions of learning in the country.
Finally, understanding what contributes towards
effective assessment will aid quality assessment of
students and effective learning.
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This study is made imperative by the alarming rate of
failure of students at their final examinations.
Performance of students has a bearing on many issues
including stakeholders to contribute towards the
students’ education towards the fees, the parents, the
teachers and trainers, the students themselves and
the management of the school and tertiary education
authorities who have a direct interest in quality of
learning. When students do not perform as well as
expected it raises concerns.
An attempt to improve learning through better
assessment methods is well conceived and continuous
improvement of the same, an urgent imperative.
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The intended populations of the study is: Internal
Examination (IE) and Final Examination (FE)
marks of candidates for the UNISA programmes
offered by BA ISAGO University College in both
Gaborone and Francistown campuses namely
Bcom
Risk
Management,
Bcom
Entrepreneurship, Bcom Strategic Supply, Real
Estate and Safety Management. (Sample should
only consider students with both the IE and the
FE).
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The following analysis will be carried out:
Computation of overall Mean and Standard Deviation for IE and FE
marks for the subjects under the five programmes
Computation of overall correlation coefficient between IE and FE
for the subjects under the five programmes
Computation of Mean and Standard Deviation of IE and FE
examinations for Gaborone and Francis town campuses for the
subjects under the five programmes
Computation of overall Mean and Standard Deviation for IE and FE
marks for males and females for the subjects under the five
programmes
Computation of Mean and Standard Deviation of IE and FE
examinations for male and females in Gaborone and Francis town
campuses for the subjects under the five programmes
Hypothesis test for the difference between overall Mean for IE and
FE marks for the subjects under the five programmes.
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The use of questionnaires has also been
employed to assess the views of students on
the value of alternative assessment.
At this stage students a first roll out of
questionnaires has taken place and
preliminery findings are undergoing scrutiny.
The objective is to roll out this as widely as
possible to enhance the validity and reliability
of the findings
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Empirical review – will be carried out to see
what other benchmarked institutions are
doing with these two types of assessments
Theoretical review will be carried out to see
what experts also say on the subject of
alternative assessment viz a viz final
assessment
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Yorke (2001) states that formative assessment is critical for
student learning. Formative assessment provides feedback
to students, and is not used as an evaluation tool (Buchanan,
2000).
It draws attention to areas requiring further study and
therefore should lead to improvements in performance
(McAlpine, 2002).
In contrast, summative assessment is conducted to appraise
a student’s overall performance (McAlpine, 2002). Although
it is often administered at the end of a course by
examination, it can include continuous assessment tasks
such as mid-term tests and assignements (Morris et al.,
2004).
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The findings into whether formative assessment does
improve performance are mixed. A positive relationship
between
formative
assessment
and
subsequent
performance on summative assessment tasks has been
identified (Zakarzewski and Bull, 1999; Sly, 1999; Sly and
Rennie, 2000).
Sly and Rennie (2000), for example, found that students who
sat an optional practice test performed significantly better
on their summative assessment than those students who
had not sat the test.
In contrast, Peat and Franklin (2003) failed to find a
significant relationship between formative assessment and
summative assessment learning outcomes.
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In an earlier study, Schmidt (1983) examined how attempting
formative multiple-choice questions impacted on the
performance of students on questions of the same type on a
final examination.
Only some students had access to optional weekly multiplechoice question sets that did not contribute to the overall
course grade.
Schmidt found that the students who had access to the
formative assessment questions performed significantly
better on the examination questions than did students who
could not access the weekly question sets.
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In the study by Collett and Gyles (2007:43),
formative assessment took the form of a
series of computer-based multiple-choice
quizzes.
Pedagogically, there are limitations to the
usefulness of multiple-choice questions.
However, they are easily converted and
administered on a computerised basis
(Buchanan, 1998).
Computer-based formative assessment of this type
is an efficient and effective means of providing
feedback to students, and the assessment task can
be taken repeatedly and on a flexible basis, that is,
at a time and place chosen by students (Buchanan,
1998; Buchanan, 2000; Peat and Franklin, 2003).
 Assessment of this type is perceived by students to
be useful for learning (Buchanan, 1998; Peat, 2000;
Peat and Franklin, 2002).
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In the present study, formative assessment
took the form of a series of multiple-choice
questions with few elements of short written
questions.
The study analyses only Bcom – Business
management module – first year students.
However at BA ISAGO we use multiple choice
assessment which is paper based and it takes
time before students receive feedback
A formative assessment ensures that students are
continuously being assessed and regular feedbacks
are given to students to ensure that they are able to
review their strengths and weaknesses, (Informatics
education, 2007:24).
 This form of assessment will allow students the
opportunity to understand their abilities and gain
the knowledge appropriate for their level of studies.
Formative assessment comes largely in the format
of coursework, projects, periodic class test and
participation in class, (Informatics education,
2007:24).


Summative assessments are usually in the form of
semester-end examinations. This form of
assessment allows the cumulative skills and
knowledge of the students to be applied at the end
of the semester and assess the students holistically.
(Informatics education, 2007:24).
One of the primary purposes of assessment is to be
summative. In its summative role, the purpose of
assessment is to judge the quality and
characteristics of the student and summarise these
in a clear and widely acceptable format.
 Traditionally, the principal mechanism for
summative assessment is the end-of-module
examination. Summative assessment is assumed to
help employers by providing ‘costless’ information
on the productive potential of job applicants.
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It is also a mechanism for selecting students
for post-compulsory education, and may be a
factor in the reputation and financial security
of institutions in higher education.
Students care most about the results of
summative assessment, as these impact on
their employability and prospective earnings.
To pass or fail a student.
 To grade or rank a student.
 To allow progress to further study.
 To assure suitability for work.
 To predict success in future study and
work.
 To signal employability and selection for
employment, Miller (undated).
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 To provide feedback to students.
 To motivate students.
 To diagnose students’ strengths and
weaknesses.
 To help students to develop selfawareness Miller (undated).
To provide feedback to lecturers on
student learning.
 To evaluate a module’s strengths and
weaknesses.
 To improve teaching.
 To ensure the module is creditworthy.
 To monitor standards over time, Miller
(undated).
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Group assessment
Self assessment
Unseen examination
Testing skills instead of knowledge
Coursework essays
Oral examinations
Projects
Presentations
Multiple choice
Portfolio
Computer aided
 Literature review
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Validity
Reliability
Acceptability
Strategic congruence
Timeliness
Communicated
Purposeful
Sufficient
Quality
Administrative efficiency
Internal assessment has been perceived to be
valuable to students with over 80 percent of
students believing it to be an integral part of their
preparation for final assessment
 However, concerns have been raised over the
following aspects:
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 Often the format used is not in sync with UNISA style of
examining in specific papers
 Questions are often ‘worlds apart’ from what they meet in
final assessment
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A sizeable number in the region of 35%
complained that they do not receive their
papers on time, some receive them a day
before final exams
Inadequate cover of syllabi makes internal
exams inadequate
Inaccessibility of past examinations papers
makes it difficult for students to use
formative assessment to predict what may
come in final examinations
Concerns
Frequency
Percentage
1. Questions are not
reflective of UNISA final
exams
32
71.11%
2. Exams do not help
students identify weak
points
30
66.67
3. Administered late
27
46
4. Feedback comes late
16
35.56
5. Badly coordinated
14
31.11
6. Some papers are not
marked and returned to
students
13
28.89
Syllabi coverage
Registration issues
Late arrival of study material (this is nolonger much
of a problem given that UNISA study material is
posted to myunisa at registration concurrently with
the issue of printed material)
 Timely convening of IE
 Provision of time for revision and exam coaching
 Increasing our sample to enhance reliability and
validity of this study
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