Advantages
- Less marking time for the teacher, which means more preparation time for other classes
- Often instant feedback for the teacher and the student
- The ability to set Computer Adaptive Assessments so that the content is individually differentiated by student readiness
- Possibly more engaging (and more realistic for the future) way to write tests or complete a course
- Assists teachers in identifying students strengths and areas that still need work
- Good for liability sake because all of the assignments and comments given should still be on record
- Good to show formative assessment of growth throughout the year
- Teachers can add additional elements to assessments such as video or song clips which broadens their ability to ask questions about those mediums, about the related content of those mediums, about relevance or cross-comparisons to a subject, or for students to personally or critically respond to those mediums.
- Can randomly sort questions so that each test is different to eliminate copying from partners
- Online testing centers (like ours at the University) allows students to take their online tests at a time that is more convenient for their own schedule.
Disadvantages
- All students may not have equal access to technology or knowledge about using technology
- Harder to monitor for cheating
- May have to account for technical difficulties
- May be gaps in communication
- Teachers may misinterpret data or may not understand why a student can’t make some of the connections. Or they might misinterpret what message the student was trying to get across if they don’t ever get the chance to meet face-to-face with that student.
- May be harder to test some outcomes.
- Can sometimes be harder to model or give examples to the class