Abstract
Student protests in 2015 and 2016 along with the inherent colonial nature of African universities has sparked reflective conversation among university academics in the areas of curriculum development and teaching practice in South Africa. Consequently, the online classroom, though typically perceived as pedagogically unconventional at residential universities in South Africa, is increasingly seen as an innovative way to encourage educator and student engagement with discipline-specific content. In addition, online assessment at residential universities in South Africa is growing in popularity due to its time-saving and efficiency properties. However, there is very little guidance available to educators who wish to conduct online assessments in large classrooms. The purpose of this study is to provide a guide to educators on how to execute online assessment in large classrooms, with specific application to engineering design. The study begins by outlining why an educator may want to consider online assessment for a large classroom. Thereafter, the study explores face-to-face assessment theory vis-à-vis online assessment theory with respect to purpose and efficiency. Following this, the study characterizes the nature of the engineering design classroom used in this study. Subsequently, the study explains the merits and drawbacks of online assessment and provides practical recommendations on how to overcome potential and typical challenges faced in a large engineering design classroom. Findings may prove valuable to other teaching environments and disciplines interested in effective online assessment for large classrooms.