ANALYSIS OF STUDENT PERCEPTION OF FINAL EXAMINATION USING ONLINE TAKE-HOME EXAM (THE)

Abstract

The use of take-home exam (THE) on an online basis becomes an examination mode that Universitas Terbuka entails in its distance-education system during the outbreak of the COVID-19 to make a final evaluation of students’ course knowledge and mastery. The exam application is equipped with guidelines and instructions that have been introduced in an online socialization prior to implementation. The application fits into a very good category in terms of its usability and accessibility, corresponding well to the environment of UPBJJ-UT of Makassar. In this study, students’ perception of the implementation of final examination using online take-home exam fits into a very good category in average. Students are also in favor of the accessibility of downloading questions within the length of time they are allowed to take, and the ease with which students upload the answers to the application. Qualitative method using descriptive analysis in percentages was adopted, with the instrument including Likert-scale questionnaire and interview. The population involved the students of UPBJJ-UT of Makassar during the academic year 2022.1, from which random samples of 300 students were taken by distributing questionnaires on Google Forms. In the use of online final take-home examination, the core tenets of academic integrity policy persist; students download, upload, and then sign the pact of academic integrity, plagiarism, and ethical codes of examination. In a psychological standpoint, students are emotionally attached with their commitment to conforming to the exam regulations. The minimum penalty for those who are caught cheating would be an E (Error) on the exam.  Results show that: (1) students’ sense of self-determination to abide with the entire session of online final take-home examination on a given schedule and within the expected length of time fits into a very good category: (2) the application effectively corresponds to students’ needs and expectation of carrying out final examination during the COVID-19 pandemic: and (3) in terms of its accessibility, the application competently extends the access to final examination to wider groups of students particularly those in rural areas that lack Internet service. This in turn leads to the flexibility with which the evaluation of student accomplishment and competence in one semester is conducted. In general, students respond in favor of the use of online take-home exam. This indirectly allows students to nurture a sense of self-determination to look up information in the module in order to substantiate their arguments and rationales behind their answers. In essence, online take-home exam presents a very effective tool for evaluating student achievement of competence in a given course.