Reassessing Student Assessment During and Post-COVID-19: Experiences in the LIS Program

Abstract

Library and Information Science (LIS) education is very different now from how we used to know it. Currently, reassessing student assessment has been at the heart of several experiments to do away with over-emphasis on retention, reproduction, and memorization. This article highlights both sides of the debate—traditional versus e-assessments—and answers critical questions about the controversial topic. The research draws on a viewpoint approach with dependence on the author's opinion and interpretation of the literature review in the pro-con discussion where both sides of a controversial traditional versus digital assessment topic are presented. We should not shy away from confronting uncomfortable truths. Assessment involves humanizing, power negotiation, empowerment, entitlement, persuasion, substitution, and student care. We require a multifaceted effort to seize the moment of COVID-19 to improve assessment by blending traditional and electronic forms. The originality is the enrichment and domestication of LIS education in a more nuanced discussion and evaluation of changes in student assessment brought on by the shift to online education during the pandemic. The conclusion indicates the need to meld traditional and innovative modes of assessment, which should be an ongoing part of any successful educational program modeled on context-specific needs.