Abstract:
Students’ performance in CBE courses should be evaluated regularly and grades are
awarded accordingly. However, assessment and grading procedures can serve their
purpose only if they are of good quality. It follows that the quality of CBE assessment
and grading schemes should be examined through research so that corrective actions
can be taken soon. This study thus investigated the quality of assessment and grading of
CBE courses at Jimma University. To this end, data were collected from students
(selected from the class of 2012) and academic staff through close-ended questionnaires.
The data collected in these ways were analyzed quantitatively using frequencies and
percentages. The findings indicated that there were some limitations in the assessment
and grading of CBE courses due to lack of awareness among some academic staff
members and students about the availability of CBE course assessment guideline, lack
of uniformity among CBE supervisors in utilizing the CBE assessment guideline and
absence of consistency among supervisors in applying the assessment tools prescribed by
the university. Thus, regular awareness raising orientations for supervisors and
students, uniform and frequent utilization of the CBE assessment guideline and further
studies are recommended to solve these drawbacks.
