CHAPTER TWO:
LITERATURE SURVEY: The assessment for many University courses includes some form of assignment which students complete, individually or as groups, and submit for marking. Assignment management involves collection, date stamping, redistribution to tutors for marking, collation of results, and return of assignments to students (Derbyshire, 2000). Tregobov (1998) breaks the process down into four stages: submission, recording, marking, and return. Online assignment submission and management (OASM) involves the use of the World-Wide Web, the Internet and computers to aid this process. The most obvious advantage offered by online assignment management is that it offers faster transportation of assignments than traditional, physical methods. In a study focusing on the use of online assignment management in a programming course Price and Peter (1997) found that students reported a decrease in assignment turnaround time from 2 weeks down to 5 to 7 days Chi-Sang et al (1999) report a reduction in the assignment submission cycle from 2-3 weeks to 1-2 hours. The best result achieved through OASM at CQU resulted in the return of 72 assignments from students throughout Australia and South-East Asia within just over 3 days (1 working day). Also Oliver and Mitchell, 1996 said� resource intensive nature of assessment can often decrease the quality of the feedback provided to student�. Providing timely, meaningful feedback on student progress is essential and can influence student results. Problems associated with traditional assignment management approaches contribute significantly to assignment turnaround time while much of the process of performing assessment is mechanical, repetitious and a perfect candidate for the application of information technology. It is the combination of these factors that is driving interest in online assignment management systems by many educators and institutions throughout the world.
3