An investigation of the attitudes of instructors and students to on-line assessment in mathematical subjects

We study factors that facilitate or hinder the adoption and use of Information and Communication Technologies in the assessment process in STEM subjects involving mathematics. To that end, we investigate both the behavioural intentions of instructors and the attitudes of students. We construct two models, which incorporating aspects of established models of acceptance of information technology, such as the Technology Acceptance Model, the Theory of Planned Behaviour, and Social Cognitive Theory. Apart from the variables from these traditional models, in our model for instructors we propose a new empirical variable, “perceived usefulness to students”. In the students' model three new empirical variables—“perceived reliability”, “perceived suitability” and “feedback”—are added. The models are analysed with data collected from staff and students at nine STEM schools at the University of Manchester using two on-line questionnaires. A Generalized Linear Model is then used to analyse both datasets. For the instructors we conclude that “perceived usefulness” and “perceived usefulness to students” have a significant positive effect on the use of web-based assessment. “Attitude” has a negative effect. For students the evidence indicates that “perceived usefulness” also has a direct effect on students' attitude.