Assessment in higher education in Ghana amid the COVID-19 pandemic

The Coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has drastically changed the mode of teaching, learning, and assessment in Higher Education (HE). This study explores HE students' experiences regarding assessment during the pandemic. Based on the equivalency theory, we interviewed 21 third-year students at a Ghanaian public university to ascertain how assessment practices have changed. The findings show that some HE students viewed assessment during COVID-19 as stressful, but others said it was flexible. It was also discovered that students faced some challenges including unreliable internet connectivity, problems with the learning management systems (LMSs) used, and a lack of appropriate devices. Again, the findings indicate that HE students relied on motivation and the University's support in providing internet data, to cope with the challenges. Though the sample in this study was small, the insights gained are illuminating and will be of great interest to educators in HEIs and have the potential to inform new ways of assessing student learning in online environments.