The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic upon Mathematics Assessment in Higher Education

Historically, the assessment of mathematics in higher education comprised closed-book, summative, proctored examinations. Related disciplines and subjects like statistics, mathematics education, and the history of mathematics lend themselves to a broader range of assessment techniques that have been reported to provide a more balanced picture of students’ abilities. In 2020, an online environment for the teaching and learning of mathematics was imposed on the academic world globally as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. In an effort to teach and assess remotely while maintaining institutional academic standards, the majority of lecturers were in a situation where closed-book, proctored assessments were not an option. As a result, other methods were adopted. This paper reports on an investigation into how mathematics lecturers worldwide assessed mathematics before the pandemic, during the initial lockdown restrictions, and in the immediate aftermath, while some restrictions were still in place, to see if any changes were sustained. There was a statistically significant difference in the proportion of respondents who used many of the assessment types investigated across the three time periods, including open-book timed, open-book untimed, closed-book, multiple-choice questions, online proctored, in-person proctored, presentations, projects, and assignments. The majority of those who favoured closed-book proctored examinations prior to the pandemic moved to timed open-book assessments. Differences between the weightings of final examinations versus continuous assessments were also statistically significant, with greater weight given to continuous assessment once the pandemic began. Respondents’ satisfaction levels with their assessments were significantly different also, with the highest satisfaction levels prior to the pandemic and the lowest during the initial lockdown restrictions. Academic integrity was a key concern of the majority of respondents when assessing the learning outcomes of their modules and played a role in the vehicle of assessment they chose.