How Do Mathematics Teachers in Higher Education Look at E-assessment with Multiple-Choice Questions Jose Manuel Azevedo 1,* , Ema Patrícia Oliveira 2 and Patrícia Damas Beites 3 1 Instituto Politécnico do Porto (ISCAP/IPP), Rua Jaime Lopes de Amorim, Porto, Portugal 2 Departamento de Psicologia e Educação and LabCom.IFP, Universidade da Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal 3 Departamento de Matemática and CMA-UBI, Universidade da Beira Interior, Covilhã, Portugal Keywords: E–assessment, Multiple-Choice Questions, Mathematics, Higher Education, Qualitative Data Analysis. Abstract: This paper presents a part of a global proposal aimed to create and put forward an e–assessment strategy using tests with multiple–choice questions (MCQ) implemented in Moodle. This strategy was planned in order to allow the use of continuous summative assessment in mathematics’ courses in a higher education institution, in classes with a large number of students. The main goal of this work was to analyse how this procedure can affect the teaching and learning processes. Changes in educational practices were ascertained using interviews with teachers. It was found an improvement in the way teachers create questions as well as in teamwork promotion. Furthermore, teachers reported that they pay more attention now on how they teach. Thus, the implementation of this e–assessment approach can be considered successful, namely because it allowed an adequate response to the main needs initially identified. 1 INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND New challenges have emerged from Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) and, at the same time, the opportunity to create differentiated learning opportunities for students, through multiple tools available to teachers. The use of ICT is recommended by several European organizations such as the European Parliament (Redecker, 2013; Redecker and Johannessen, 2013). In the assessment process, it becomes an useful resource, through electronic format or e-assessment. The use of ICT in the student assessment process, from where the concept of e-assessment arose, is largely associated with the need to adapt the traditional forms of assessment in e-learning courses. ICT is used throughout the assessment process from the design of the tests to the storage of the results (Stödberg, 2012). Closed-response questions remain the most commonly used format in e-assessment (Stödberg, 2012). Among those, multiple-choice questions 4 Doutorando no Departamento de Psicologia e Educação da Universidade da Beira Interior (MCQ) are of particular relevance and have some specificities. Based on a review of the literature, some advantages and some limitations of MCQ are presented in tables 1 and 2, respectively. In both tables, the ones presented in bold are related to mathematics, and the ones with the grey background concern the point of view of students. Structurally, MCQ are composed of 3 elements: (1) a stem that presents the problem and which can take the form of an incomplete sentence or a question; (2) the correct option or answer key; and (3) several distractors, which are incorrect alternatives, but equally plausible for students who do not fully master the subjects to be tested (Clegg and Cashin, 1986; Burton et al., 1991; Bush, 2015). From our point of view, one of the limitations of MCQ in paper format tests, which we have not found explicitly mentioned in the literature, has to do with the possibility of students to cheat more easily than they would do when the questions are open-ended. To obviate this limitation, some teachers construct several versions of the same test, introducing slight changes to it, but trying to maintain the feasibility and the reliability of the assessment. In the case of e- assessment, a database of questions duly conceived Azevedo, J., Oliveira, E. and Beites, P. How Do Mathematics Teachers in Higher Education Look at E-assessment with Multiple-Choice Questions. DOI: 10.5220/0006324801370145 In Proceedings of the 9th International Conference on Computer Supported Education (CSEDU 2017) - Volume 2, pages 137-145 ISBN: 978-989-758-240-0 Copyright © 2017 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. All rights reserved 137