E-exams in Vietnam’s Higher Education: Students’ Computer Efficacy and Attitudes

Abstract

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought enormous changes to the educational systems worldwide. Due to the serious COVID-19 situation in Vietnam, most universities moved from offline exams to e-exams. The study was conducted in Vietnam to investigate EFL students’ computer efficacy and attitudes toward e-exams. The research employed the mixed method with an in-depth interview and a questionnaire. The number of participants was 1,099 students. The quantitative data were processed using SPSS. Descriptive statistics, independent sample t-test, and MANOVA were calculated for the quantitative data analysis. Furthermore, themes and codes were utilized for the qualitative data. The study showed that students generally had good computer efficacy in performing e-exams and positive attitudes toward e-exams. Yet, students found it stressful to take e-exams due to problems such as cheating, plagiarism, and testing conditions that may arise during the online tests. Specific recommendations like appropriate supporting platforms for e-exams, the consideration of cost, timeliness, the quality of platforms, the combination between the use of e-exams and formative assessment, and what support the university needs to provide for students and lecturers are suggested.