Will one be better than two? Exploring Project-Based Joint Assessment during a Pandemic in Higher Education: Learning assessments

Abstract

Educators in higher education have been utilizing numerous assessments to assess students’ understanding of one subject. A singlesubject could have three to four types of assessments which causes university students to have up to sixteen assessments in a semester. The huge amounts of assessments have posed a risk to students whereby they are overburdened with repetitive assessments. Therefore, we implemented a project-based joint assessment in this study whereby one project is shared between two second-year subjects. This project is further broken down into four smaller assessments to achieve parts of the learning outcomes of both subjects. There is a total of 160 university students included for data analysis. Results showed that project-based joint assessment is feasible in higher education as it enhances active involvement of the students, promotes deep-level learning and fulfils learning outcomes. It also helps to alleviate stress among students as well as fostering a closer bonding between teammates despite having virtual classes due to the pandemic.