Investigating gender bias in formative and summative CAA

Over two academic years, some four hundred first year students of Management at the University of Southampton had the opportunity to self-test using computer-based quizzes before taking a summative, online assessment. Over 97% of the students practised at least once; the average number of attempted quizzes was nine. This paper presents analysis of the accumulated data, with particular attention to possible gender differences in the number of practice quiz attempts, best formative scores and final summative results. The authors conclude that these computer-assisted assessments and the question bank were gender neutral.