Change in Gap Perception within Current Practices in Assessing Students Learning Mathematics

• Main Authors: Vlad I. Bocanet, Ken Brown, Anne Uukkivi, Filomena Soares, Ana Paula Lopes, Anna Cellmer, Carles Serrat, Cristina Feniser, Florina M. Serdean, Elena Safiulina, Gerald Kelly, Joanna Cymerman, Igor Kierkosz, Volodymyr Sushch, Marina Latõnina, Oksana Labanova, M. Montserrat Bruguera, Chara Pantazi, M. Rosa Estela
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: MDPI AG 2021-04-01
• Series: Sustainability
• Subjects: online education; mathematics; gap analysis method; student assessment; e-assessment
• Online Access: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/8/4495

The COVID pandemic has touched many aspects of everyone’s life. Education is one of the fields greatly affected by it, as students and teachers were forced to move online and quickly adapt to the online environment. Assessment is a crucial part of education, especially in STEM fields. A gap analysis was performed by expert groups in the frame of an Erasmus+ project looking at the practices of six European countries. Specialists teaching university-grade mathematics in seven European institutions were asked about their perception of gaps in the assessment of students both before (2019) and during (2021) the pandemic. This qualitative study looks at the difference in perception of such gaps after almost one year of online teaching. The analysis of their responses showed that some gaps were present before the pandemic, as well as others that are specific to it. Some gaps, such as the lack of IT infrastructure and the need to adapt materials to an online environment, have been exacerbated by the outbreak.