STUDENT ACTIVITIES IN ONLINE ASSESSMENT

Universitas Terbuka (UT) in Indonesia provides a number of tutorial services to its students. The models of tutorial services are correspondence and face-to-face tutorials, tutorials through radio, written tutorials through internet, and written tutorials through the integration of fax-internet. Some of those models use the internet, such as the online tutorial. To improve the student’s knowledge, UT also provides online assessment (OA). One of the intentions of online assessment is to help student to practice their ability in answering the final examination. At first, online assessment was called self-test. The self-test gives 15% contribution to the final scores. UT has provided online assessment since 2007. The online assessment could be accessed at http://student.ut.ac.id. The online assessment doesn’t give a score or contribution to the final score. At this time, UT has uploaded 457 subjects of online assessment from 862 subjects at all faculties, or 53,02%. The Faculty of Teaching and Educational Studies has 247 OA, Faculty of Economics has 54 OA, Faculty of Social and Political Science has 57 OA, and Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science has 99 OA. This study is to evaluate student activities and the development of the subject in online assessment. Results showed that in the second period of 2008, the Faculty of Teaching and Educational Studies has uploaded 185 OA, the Faculty of Economics has uploaded 51 OA, the Faculty of Social and Political Science has uploaded 24 OA, and the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science has uploaded 77 OA. From the information we could observe the development of the online assessment from year 2008 until the first period of 2009. The faculties have the online assessment target until the first period of 2009. The data show that in 2009, the Faculty of Economics targeted 53 of the subject has OA, while the Faculty of Social and Political Science has 124 OA, the Faculty of Teaching and Educational Studies targeted 195 OA, and the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science targeted 101 OA. Universitas Terbuka (UT) with an open and distance learning system, provides an alternative study program for students with inexpensive cost. The information and communication technology facilitates students to study trough the internet. But only 3 or 4 % of the students take this opportunity.

Distance learning needs some supporting facilities to help students.The facilities include a number of tutorial services to its students.Tutorial services may be correspondence tutorials, face-to-face tutorials, tutorials through radio, written tutorials through internet, and written tutorials through integration of fax-internet.Some of those models use the internet, such as online tutorials.To improve the student's knowledge, especially in understanding the questions of the test, UT also provides online assessment.
Universitas Terbuka held a final examination for the students every semester for each subject.To achieve good results at the final test, UT provide test exercises to student, called online assessment.One of the intentions of online assessment is to help student to practice their ability in answering the final examination.This study is to evaluate the student activities in online assessment and its development over tree semesters.For the tutor this observation could help them gain the information about the question's quality, and evaluate the increase number of the subject.
Universitas Terbuka (UT) an open and distance learning institution, provides an alternative study program for the students with inexpensive cost.The information and technology facilitate students to study trough the internet.But only 3 or 4 % of the students take this opportunity.This study is to evaluate the student activities in online assessment and the development of the subject in the online assessment.Results showed that in the second period of 2008, the Faculty of Teaching and Educational Studies has uploaded 185 OA, the Faculty of Economics has uploaded 51 OA, the Faculty of Social and Political Science has uploaded 24 OA, and the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science has uploaded 77 OA.From the information we could observe the development of the online assessment from year 2008 until the first period of 2009.

THEORETICAL BACKGROUND OF DISTANCE LEARNING
Before we conclude the meaning of distance learning, we should look into the its previous definitions.One of the earlier form of the distance learning was done through correspondence courses started in Europe (Valentine, 2002).
As the technology progressed, started by the inventions of radio, videotaped, and televisions, the definition of distance learning had changed.And when the use of computer technology such as internet and compressed video become familiar, the term of "distance learning" had changed.Live video instruction is the most popular and the fastest growing delivery mode in the United States (Ostendorf, 1997).
Due to the various definitions of distance learning, we could assume that we need to find a definition that fits in all situations.Hopkins (1995) said that distance education and training is resulted from the technological separation of teacher and learner which frees the student from the necessity of traveling to "a fixed place, at a fixed time, to meet a fixed person, in order to be trained".It means that the student and the teacher are separated by space, learning materials which enables the student to independently without the presence of a teacher and sometimes by time, compressed video is an example.Most education programs employ a combination of audiovisual media to facilitate learning.Audiocassette, telephone, radio, compact disc, television, video, computer and printed resources are used as means of delivering the learning materials to the studens.

Assessment and Online Assessment
In the education, assessment is often intermingling with evaluation.Assessment is used to determine what a student knows or can do, while evaluation is used to determine what the student know or can do, while evaluation is used to determine the worth or value of a course or a program.Assessment data student can be used for knowing the student progress, placement, and grading, as well as making decision about instructional strategies and curriculum (Herman et al, 1990).Evaluations often utilize assessment data together with other resources to make decisions about revising, adopting, or rejecting a course or program (http://www.edtech.vt.edu/edtech/id/assess/assess.html).
The term assessment generally refers to all activities in order to help students and to measure the students' progress.
Based on the purpose of using assessment, we are familiar with: 1. formative and summative 2. objective and subjective 3. referencing (criterion-referenced, norm-referenced) 4. informal and formal.
Assessment in a broader term is defined as a process of obtaining information that is used for making decisions about students, curricula and programs, and educational policy (Nitko, 1996).
The definition of online assessment (OA) is a process to measure certain aspects of information which delivered via computer network.The online assessment also consists of the elements depending on the assessment's purposes like those of non-online assessment.Student could access the online assessment using the internet at home or in the internet café.
In UT, online assessment previously used to be called self assignment.This test attached in the module.Since 2007 UT has developed online assessment.The online assessment could be accessed at http://student.ut.ac.id.So far, UT has uploaded 457 (53,02%) subjects for online assessment from 862 subjects .The Faculty of Teaching and Educational Studies has 247 subjects for online assessment, Faculty of Economics has 54 subjects for, Faculty of Social and Political Science has 57 subjects for online assessment, and Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science has 99 subjects for online assessment.The previous self-assignment gives 15% contribution for the final score, but since 2007 the online assessment is has no contribution to the final score.
The aim of the online assessment is to help students in facing the final test.The online assessment and the final test have similar characteristics.If the students learn from the online assessment before facing the real test, hopefully they could answer the real question at the final test easily.

Student-lecturer Interaction
The interaction between students and lecturer in the learning process is important.The online assessment is using internet to deliver the information.If the students have questions about the subject, they could contact the lecturer or tutor using an e-mail address.Universitas Terbuka as a distance and open learning university provides independent learning.Learning at a distance definitely requires a certain skills, habit and discipline of the students.Therefore, the overall learning systems have to be encouraging and strengthening.

Student-content Interaction
The globalization era makes the process of learning become easier.The UT's learning material is effective, flexible, and sensible approach for students to learn continuously.Printed material (known as module) serves as the main learning media, and the online assessment are developed based on these learning material.The online assessment materials are developed by the lecturers and their quality.The online assessment is basically similar to the online tutorial.Both learning media allow students to interact with tutors.But the difference between those medias is UT online tutorial via the interactions are not real time and therefore the feedback is also delayed (Toha et al, 1999).Because the interactions are not real time, students can post a question about the difficulty of the subject and also problem in understanding the other learning material, such as module.If they have any difficulties in answering the question, they can contact the lecturer.Responses to his/her questions can be any time at their convenience.Similarly, lecturer also has the flexibility to schedule their tutoring times as well as the comfort to prepare materials and to look for answers to students questions.

Research Questions/Objectives
The intention of this research is to evaluate the student activities in online assessment and the development of the studies in the online assessment in The Faculties of Teaching and Educational, Economics, Mathematics and Natural Science, and Social and Political Science.The objectives of this research is to identify the student's accessibility in the online assessment, and to provide input to lecturer in the development of online assessment.

METHOD
The research method is an observation study.The aims of the study is to evaluate the the student activities in online assessment, especially from the first registration of 2008 until 2009.
The variables of this research are online assessment faculties, the subject of online assessment, and the student's accessibility.An observation to the online assessment has been done, in order to collect the information on three semesters.

Upload Online Assessment
Based on the observations on upload online assessment at the endof each semester (semester 2008.1, 2008.2, and 2009.1),there was an increasing number of subject in each faculty (Table 1).This increase indicates that UT tries to provide learning support facilities for the students, so they can past the final examination.During the observation, there are some subjects who has not been uploaded, number of online assessment that is uploaded on website at the time of observation UT not included all subjects offered to students.In the future, faculty will uploaded gradually all subjects for online assessment.Some of the online materials is still in the process of revision, that's why they hasn't been uploaded.

Number of online assessment accessed by students
An observation to the students who access the online assessment was done at the end of the three semester in all faculties.An observation of the activities online access to the assessment made by the students at the end of the semester for three semesters in each faculty.Base on the observation of the student activity in the online assessment that the number of subjects is on the Faculty of Teaching and Educational Studies, followed by the Faculty of Economics, Faculty of Social and Political Studies, and Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science.The high number of students who accessed the online assessment in the Faculty of Teaching and Educational Studies are consistent with the number of registered student in the faculty (400,000 students), which is the highest number of students in the UT.However, comparing to the number of registered students, the number of students who acces the online assessment is still small.This condition occurs in all the faculties.This is in accordance with the opinion Suparman (2008) which state that students who use the internet facility is only 3-4%.Based on the observation on students activity in accessing the online assessment, Faculty of Economics has the greatest number of student's access, followed by Faculty of Social Science, Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, and finally of Teaching and Educational Studies (Table 3).

CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION
Based on results of observations on the students' activity in online assessment in three semesters we can conclude that: 1.The number of subjects which can be accessed by the student are 457 subjects (53.02% from 862 subjects offered to the students).2. Faculty of Teaching and Educational Studies has provided the greatest number of subjects for online assessment (247 subjects).3. The greatest activation is done by the students of Faculty of Economics (785 studens).4. From semester 2008.1 until 2009.1, the number of students who accessed the online assessment is declining.
Based on decreasing number of students who has accessed the online assessment from the semester 2008.1 until 2009.1,UT should take the following actions: 1.The UT offials must socialize the online assessment to the students 2. The variety of questions and the characteristics of each queations in each subject must be equal.3. Further research on factor which influence the declining number of students accessibility has to be conducted.

Faculties
have target to upload all subjects for online assessment until the first period of 2009.The data show that in 2009, Faculty of Economics has targeted 53 subjects for the OA, while Faculty of Social and Political Science has targeted to upload 124 subjects OA, Faculty of Teaching and Educational Studies has targeted 195 subjects for OA, and Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science has targeted 101 for OA.
1.In this research is conducted in four faculties: a. Faculty of Teacher Training and Educational Sciences b. Faculty of Social and Political Sciences c. Faculty of Economics d.Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences 2. The online assessment has been started since the second period of 2007.The online assessment could be accessed at http://student.ut.ac.id.The number of subjects for online assessment increased every semester.In 2008, The Faculty of Economics targeted 53 subjects for online assessment, while Faculty of Teacher Training and Educational Sciences had 195 subjects for online assessment.Faculty of Social and Political Sciences targeted 124 subjects for online assessment, and Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences has 101 subjects for online assessment.3. Student accessibility; the online assessment is intended to assist student to practice the final examination test.Student's accessibility means how many times the student access the online assessment in one subject every semester.

Table 1 .
The Recapitulation of The Subject on Online Assessment from 2008.1-2009.1 (uploaded) Faculty of Teaching and Educational Studies, has uploaded 100 subjects, Faculty of Economics has uploaded 34 subjects, Faculty of Social and Political Science has uploaded 22 subjects, and the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science has uploaded 11 subjects.Then in following semester, 2008.2,Faculty of Teaching and Educational Studies, has uploaded 185 subjects, Faculty of Economics has uploaded 51 subjects, Faculty of Social and Political Science has uploaded 24 subjects, and the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science has uploaded 77 subjects.In semester 2009.1.Faculty of Teaching and Educational Studies, has uploaded 247 subjects, Faculty of Economics has uploaded 54 subjects, Faculty of Social and Political Science has uploaded 57 subjects, and Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science has uploaded 99 subjects.At Faculty of Teaching and Educational Studies the one which has uploaded the greatest online assessment in every semester.The number of subjects that is uploaded 457 subjects, or 53.02% from the subjects offered to student (862 subjects).
The results of the observations shows that semester 2008.1, students are able to access 87 subjects in Faculty of Teaching and Educational Studies, 30 subjects in Faculty of Economics, 17 subjects in Faculty of Social and Political Studies, and 4 subjects in Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science.At semester 2008.2, students are able to acces 35 subjects in Faculty of Teaching and Educational Studies, 20 subjects in Faculty of Economics, , 21 subjects in Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science, and who do not subjects in Faculty of Social and Political Studies.At semester 2009.1,students are able to access 15 subjects in Faculty of Teaching and Educational Studies, 7 subjects in Faculty of Economics, 16 subjects in Faculty of Social and Political Studies, and 6 subjects in Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science.

of Student Access the Online Assessment in Each Faculty
From the result of the observations, in semester 2008.1, the number of students who access online assessment in Faculty of Teacher Training and Education are 421, Faculty of Economics is 785, Faculty of Social and Political Science are 442, and Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science are 58.In semester 2008.2, the number of students who acces the online assessment in Faculty of Teaching and Educational Studies are 104, Faculty of Economics are 170, and Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science are 28.Unfortunately, there are no students who accsessed the online assessment in Faculty of Social and Political Science.In semester 2009.1, the number of students who acces the online assessment in Faculty of Teaching and Educational Studies are 35, Faculty of Economics are 24, Faculty of Social and Political Science are 56, and Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Science are 10.

Table 3 .
The number of student activities, access to the online assessment in each faculty