A definition for effective assessment and implications on computer-aided assessment practice

For a decade, computer-aided assessment (CAA) has been used extensively with first-year mathematics and engineering undergraduates studying mathematics modules at the institution under investigation. This project sought to evaluate the effectiveness of CAA. Using assessment literature and activity theory to frame the study, this paper explores the aims of assessment and what it means for assessment to be “effective”: it proposes a definition for effective assessment and discusses whether CAA can be considered effective assessment by this definition.