Dahlia: Online formative assessment for theoretical course

Formative assessment is conducted throughout the extent of a course. Its evaluation represents students' understanding on the learning contents. This complements the learning process where educators focus on the fulfillment of learning objectives. The current assessment method emphasizes on students' grade, and this is also the case for Computer Architecture course assessments. Therefore, this research proposed an evaluation method based on SOLO Taxonomy to analyse students' responses which indicates their actual understanding level. SOLO Taxonomy is applied as it consists of five hierarchical levels that can distinctly describe students' understanding level. This research highlights the overall responses to Computer Architecture course examination questions which are mapped into SOLO Taxonomy. Positive feedbacks were received from students in the usability testing for Dahlia. The significance of this research is that it aids students to gauge learning contents of theoretical course in Computer Science, namely Computer Architecture. It also suggests a measure to reflect students' performance in theoretical courses for Computer Science programs.