Abstract

The 21st-century student body merits new kinds of assessment procedures that are not ends in themselves but part of a continuous learning process consonant with their new profile and technological skills. The paper introduces the phenomenon of e-assessment as the electronic substitution for classical pen-and-paper assessment methods. The paper begins with a definition of “e-assessment”; then, it analyses e-assessment features by clarifying the differences between the latter and the classical assessment tools on the one hand and between formative and summative e-assessment on the other. The paper also lists the main virtues and pitfalls of e-assessment based on an online tutoring experience on e-platform Moodle, carried out by the author with a group of fourteen e-learners having participated in the Connect Communicate Collaborate (CCC) course, an online English communication course delivered via the Virtual University of Tunis (2009–2010). The paper adopts a triangulated research methodology including a descriptive analysis for the different Moodle e-assessment tools and an action research where the author gives her own reflections as the online tutor of the group. The research shows that though Moodle testing tools, which are built on a socio-constructivist philosophy, are effective in tracing the e-learners’ learning progress both academically and socially. There is still a lot of work to be invested in preparing the e-learners and online tutors, as well, to make the best advantage of Moodle system and to avoid some of the latter’s technical glitches.