Online assessment practices during the pandemic in secondary schools in Catalonia

ABSTRACT

During the COVID-19 pandemic, teachers had to face different teaching and assessment challenges. This study aims to analyse the relationship between the assessment practices of teachers (related to their assessment conceptions) with their self-perceived level of teachers’ digital competence (TDC) and their received TDC and assessment training courses. For this, the authors applied an online questionnaire that analysed the case of secondary school teachers in Catalonia (Spain) (n = 278). Results show that participating teachers who have the highest self-perception of TDC are the ones who perceive themselves as integrating mainly formative assessment. Significant correlations were also found between recent teacher training and the kind of assessment practices carried out by participants. Official certification of TDC also has a statistically significant association with different assessment characteristics and purposes. Finally, the implications of these findings for pre-service and in-service teacher training are discussed, both regarding the TDC and the assessment competence.

KEYWORDS:

• Digital competence of teachers
• teacher training
• assessment practices
• assessment for learning
• secondary school

Acknowledgments

We would thank the support of Regional Government of Catalonia (Direcció General d’Innovació, Recerca i Cultura Digital, Generalitat de Catalunya) for their assistance in accessing secondary schools.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This research has been funded by the Educational Research Institute of the University of Barcelona (Institut de Recerca en Educació, IRE UB).

Notes on contributors

Elena Cano Garcia

Elena Cano Garcia is Associate Professor of the Department of Didactics and Educational Organization of the University of Barcelona since 2001. She has a degree in Educational Sciences (1990) and in Economics and Business Administration (1995) and a PhD in Educational Sciences (1996) from the University of Barcelona. She is the Coordinator of LMI Consolidated Research Group (Learning, Media & Social Interactions) (2017 SGR 379) and the Coordinator of GIDAT Teaching Innovation in Assessment and Technology Team (GINDOC-13/149).

Laia Lluch Molins

Laia Lluch Molins is a part-time professor in the Department of Didactics and Educational Organization at the University of Barcelona and at the Studies of Psychology and Educational Sciences at the Open University of Catalonia. She was added to the Chair of Neuroeducació UB-EDU1ST. She is the Editor of the Journal of Neuroeducation. She has a PhD in Education and Society from the University of Barcelona (2019) and a Master in Innovation and Research in Education, from the National University of Distance Education and a Postgraduate degree in Leadership and Management of Educational Institutions from the Open University of Catalonia. She also has a degree in Primary Education Teaching from the University of Barcelona.

Marc Fuertes-Alpiste

Marc Fuertes-Alpiste is currently Associate Professor in the Department of Theory and History of Education of the Faculty of Education of the University of Barcelona. He has a BA and PhD in Pedagogy (2011) from the University of Barcelona (Educational Multimedia program). He is member of the research group ‘Teaching and Virtual Learning’ (GREAV UB) and of the Institute of Research in Education (IRE UB) and is secretary of the Digital Education Observatory (OED UB). His research interests are focused on the study of personal digital stories in education and the integration of digital technology in educational processes, topics on which he has published several articles in international journals and book chapters.