Explanatory factors of student performance in online tests for the continuous assessment: Is attendance really important?

Abstract

[EN] In the European Higher Education Area, the educational model focuses on the student and the role of Information and Communication Technologies is crucial for the learning and teaching process. This study identifies the characteristics of the students according to their performance in the online tests carried out in a subject of Financial Accounting in the groups taught in English of the Degrees of Business Administration and Economics in a University from XXX. The objectives of this study are to explore the determining factors for student performance in online tests. Several analyses are carried out for all the marks and for a separated sample considering only the tests where the mark is at least good- i.e. the best or the second best grade in the national grading system. Among other intersting findings, our study evidences that attendance is a determining factor for the performance in each test if we take the whole group of students, but it is not significant for the students achieving better grades. This evidence has important implications as regards making attendance compulsory to benefit from the continuous assessment system.