THE TRANSFER OF ASSESSMENT FROM PEN AND PAPER TO E-ASSESSMENT: Two case studies from one theoretical perspective

The use of e-assessment both at school and at university is very appealing to teachers and lecturers alike: At the very least, it allows for big time saving as the marking is automatised. However, we don’t know how the capabilities required to succeed change when transferring tasks from the traditional mode of paper-based to an e-assessment mode. Research has highlighted some differences; however, we are not yet sure how we can account for such differences. In this chapter we propose the instrumental approach as a tool to investigate such differences. We present two examples of task transfer from paper-based to e-assessment at two educational levels, and we analyse them through the lens of instrumentation. We illustrate how the mathematical capabilities assessed by the tasks depend on the modes in which the tasks are administered.