The rigours of on-line student assessment: lessons from E-commerce

Moving to Web-based student assessment is a natural progression from current deployment of Web-based delivery of teaching materials. This paper notes similarities in requirements between network-based student assessment and network-based e-commerce. The parallels are instructive since they indicate the stringent technical demands that must be met by both contexts if confidence is to be assured. Furthermore, we argue that the student assessment context faces more severe constraints than the e-commerce scenario. The paper concludes with proposed techniques that move toward the required levels of assurance, and indicates that adequate on-line student assessment is a loftier goal than secure ecommerce.