Measuring Students’ Perception about Assessment, Learning Approaches and Strategies: Evidence among Higher Education Students from Kumasi, Ghana
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.18533/jah.v12i03.2169Keywords:
Students’ learning approaches and strategies; assessment in higher education, model’s predictive potencyAbstract
A repertoire of assessment have been developed in higher education lately for varying reasons. These same factors may have accounted for the pressure on students to adopt particular approaches or strategies to learning for assessment. Although research on student learning approaches have been well documented in literature, the foremost used approaches, together with their instruments have been criticized for their theoretical and methodological limitations, suggesting the need for more reliable ones. Measurement items constructed, together with the proposed model, were tested for their predictive potency using component factor analysis. This research attempts to extend current knowledge on students’ personal characteristics, perceptions of assessment and teaching & learning experience on students’ learning approaches and strategies. The specific objectives of this study were: 1) examine the effect of students’ personal characteristics, perceptions of assessment and teaching & learning experience on students’ learning approaches and strategies; 2) construct measurement items and propose a model for testing the above stated variables; and 3) test reliability and predictive potency of the measurement items and the proposed model. A research model was developed and tested using data from a survey of 288 respondents from Ghanaian universities based in Kumasi. Measurement items constructed, together with the proposed model, were tested for their predictive potency using component factor analysis. The results show that students’ personal characteristics, perceptions of assessment and teaching & learning experience are three critical factors that drive students’ learning approaches and strategies adoption intentions for assessment. The findings present policy implications for teaching and learning facilitation as well as assessment administration in higher education, especially in the Ghanaian context.
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