Danish school pupils’ perception of their learning outcomes from participating in computer-based adaptive tests: a pressure for just clicking something?

ABSTRACT

Digital transformations within educational systems are recurrently justified by their promise to enhance learning activities and outcomes. We examine this claim in a study of pupils’ perception and experiences with computer-based adaptive tests in higher classes in Danish public primary schools. The study relies on survey and interview data and addresses whether pupils perceive their participation in computer-based adaptive tests as contributing to their learning and the degree to which the perception of teachers’ attitude to the test influences their learning. A majority perceives their learning as low or non-existing. However, the perception of a more positive teacher attitude is related to more substantial learning. Theoretically, we attribute this relationship to the effect of self-fulfilling prophecies in the classroom. Learning also differs for subgroups related to gender and ability level. The findings contribute to discussions about educational policy, management, and the digital transformation of educational systems.

KEYWORDS:

• Digital technologies
• learning outcomes
• national tests
• performance test
• primary education
• pygmalion-effect

Acknowledgments

The authors are grateful to Aalborg Municipality for facilitating the data collection for this study.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1 Illeris (2006, p. 15) offers a broad conceptual understanding of learning as (our translation): “learning is any process, that in living organisms leads to a lasting change in capacity, that is not only due to forgetting, biological maturation, or aging.”

2 Chi-square and one sample t-tests provide similar findings.