Abstract:

This paper reports the development and examination of a run-time system that performs at-risk assessments of students studying open and distance learning courses, and provides personal support to follow up the assessment results. To avoid the difficulties in obtaining up-to-date information for assessing students and additional resources for providing support, the system is designed such that the assessments can be done based only on available information and the support is provided in the form of electronic assessment reports. The at-risk assessments manipulate an instrument developed in a previous study that defines the at-risk level of a student on a course as the non-completion rate of students having similar backgrounds and assignment scores on the same course. The assessment reports are prepared based on the assessment results and information available in the student records. In an experimental study, the run-time system was implemented on an ODL course offered by the Open University of Hong Kong and followed up with a questionnaire survey. The study results have shown that providing assessment reports can encourage students, new students in particular, for a better performance, and hence reduce the rate of student attrition.