TESTING THE EFFECTIVENESS OF DEVELOPED, CHEMISTRY ESSAY COMPUTER BASE EXAMINATION SOFTWARE FOR STUDENTS IN FEDERAL UNIVERSITY DUTSIN-MA

Abstract

The study investigated the effectiveness of a developed chemistry essay Computer-Based Test (CBT) examination at Federal University Dutsin-Ma in Katsina state Nigeria. Two research questions were formulated in line with the study's objectives. The study employed the ADDIE model for research and development, to develop the software. While to test the effectiveness of the software the study adopted quasi-experimental research design: one-group posttest-only design. The population comprises of all 145 final-year, 400-level students in the Department of Science Education. A purposive sampling technique was used to select all 43 chemistry students for the study. One instrument was developed for data collection: the Chemistry Students’ Essay CBT Assessment Questionnaire, designed on a four-point Likert scale. The instrument was validated appropriately. The reliability of the questionnaire was established using 20 students from the population who were not part of the sample, and Cronbach's alpha yielded a reliability coefficient of 0.87, confirming its dependability. Indecision making, if the findings grand mean score was above 2.50 confirmed the software’s effectiveness, while a score below 2.50 indicated ineffectiveness. The research questions were answered, using mean and standard deviation. The findings revealed that the web-based essay CBT was effective in terms of both functionality and graphical user interface. Based on the findings, it was recommended among others that students should be trained on how to use the software, and seminars or workshops should be organized for lecturers to enhance their utilization of the web-based essay CBT software.