Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Studies in Educational Evaluation journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/stueduc Text-based sustainable assessment: A case of first-year information and communication technology networking students A. Kayode Adesemowo a, ⁎ , Yemisi Oyedele a , Opeoluwa Oyedele b a School of Information and Communication Technology, Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, P.O. Box 77000, Port Elizabeth, South Africa b Independent Researcher ARTICLE INFO Keywords: Sustainable assessment Validity Large-scale assessment Construct representation Skills assessment Text-based assessment ICT networks Learning management systems ABSTRACT The notion of sustainable assessment is to equip learners for the challenges of learning and practice they will face once their current episode of learning is complete. More often than not, portfolio and/or ‘direct’ observation are preferred assessment format. However, lecturers are increasingly faced with administrative challenges when conducting large-scale assessments, due to the large size of their class. In this exploratory study, we innovatively adapted Cloze question types to ‘mimic’ real-life scenarios. We observed a (Pearson) correlation coefficient value of r = 0.7 between the text-based and skills assessments of the students. This was further supplemented with a Spearman's Rho value of 0.66 with a two-tailed (probability) value of p ≈ 0. For this reason, we put forward that learning management system platforms can provide a technology-rich environment to designing innovative text- based assessments for relatively large classes. 1. Background [WCI1600] (Networks 1) is a compulsory year-long foundational ICT networking course for first-year students, in the School of ICT of Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University. It is based on the global Cisco Academy suite of courses (Cisco Academy, 2017). As a skills-based course, students are expected to use the taught networking concepts to design, configure and troubleshoot an Information and Communication Technology (ICT) network. The teaching approach used in the course is situated in the constructivism domain wherein skills-based cognitive learning interfaces with and incorporates visual learning interfaces (Coffman, 2006, p. 2; Halabi, Essop, Carmichael, & Steyn, 2014, p. 165; Moss & Smith, 2010, p. 333). Just like some skills-based engineering courses, students taking the Networks 1 course are expected to have the ability to move beyond memorization. To be precise, students are expected to be able to think critically (Enns, Cho, & Karimidorabati, 2014, p. 1). Also, the course is a relatively large class and made up of diverse mix of students (Hornsby, Osman, & De Matos-Ala, 2013, p. 8; McGovern & Lockhart, 2015, p. 201). As a large class, engaging in active Teaching and Learning (T & L) methods (inclusive of assessment) is essential, in order to ensure that the students are engaged during class lecture periods and are stimulated to learn. It then follows that students must be stimulated to write assessments that engage them critically and are relevant to the practicality of the industry outcomes of the course. Within ICT education, there are few literature that examine students’ performance in situations representative of some of the high level hands-on activities carried out in the ICT industry (Adesemowo & Kende, 2015, p. 72; Linder, Abbott, & Fromberger, 2006, pp. 239, 241; Webb, 2010, pp. 904, 905). These reported adoptions are mostly associated with the students’ technology compe- tency in courses associated with computer programming. There is dearth of literature examining ICT Networking (Adesemowo, Johannes, Goldstone, & Terblanche, 2016, p. 71). Yet, ICT Networking is a critical skill in the ICT industry that ensures the inter-connection of http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.stueduc.2017.04.005 Received 2 June 2016; Accepted 20 April 2017 ⁎ Corresponding author. E-mail addresses: kadesemowo@iee.org (A.K. Adesemowo), yoyedele@hotmail.com (Y. Oyedele), opeoluwaoyedele@gmail.com (O. Oyedele). Studies in Educational Evaluation 55 (2017) 1–8 0191-491X/ © 2017 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. MARK