COMBINING ONLINE AND PAPER ASSESSMENT IN A WEB-BASED COURSE IN UNDERGRADUATE MATHEMATICS Johann Engelbrecht & Ansie Harding University of Pretoria, South Africa Online assessment in mathematics is becoming more prominent as mathematics and the internet become more compatible. This paper is based on a case study of a web-based calculus course in which a combination of paper and online assessment are used for assessing various activities. The paper firstly investigates what student assessment preferences are and shows that there is a leaning towards a preference for online assessment. Yet, students still show a preference for a combination of online and paper assessment for term tests. Secondly the paper shows that standards are maintained when incorporating an equally weighted online component into the assessment model for the case under consideration. The investigations are conducted from a background of having been involved in teaching online mathematics courses for the last four years. Introduction Issues such as why one should consider online assessment, how viable online assessment is and what the role of online assessment is, in mathematics in particular, need to be addressed. Computer technology is establishing itself as an integral role player in teaching mathematics, yet many teachers of mathematics still shy away from granting technology the same significant role in the assessment process. Whether it is at all possible to sensibly assess mathematics online is an issue that is often regarded with scepticism. Concerns exist about whether valuable skills such as the development of a mathematical argument or the exposition of a problem solution, normally conducted on paper, will be forfeited. On the other hand, one can speculate whether it is possible to completely replace paper assessment in mathematics with online assessment, the precedence of which has been set in a number of other disciplines. If possible it will cut down on grading work for the teachers and fall in line with trends of increasing technology application. Steering midway offers the possibility of combining online assessment and paper assessment. If this option is considered, then one needs to investigate how to deploy such a combination. In other words, how does one maintain the best features of two worlds while venturing into a new way of doing? Hand in hand with this is another important issue, the question of whether it is possible to maintain standards while assessing mathematics online. In this paper we address the issues stated above from the perspective of having taught mathematics courses online for a number of years and making use of both online and paper assessment. Assessment A danger amongst mathematics teachers is for assessment to be considered as an add- on to the course and not as an integral part of the curriculum. This is not the case with students. For most students, assessment is the central driving force in the learning process. Teachers spend much time on developing detailed study guides containing carefully formulated learning objectives. The majority of students, however, have as their primary objective passing the course. For this purpose they are quick to consider whether their