One continuing concern associated with online courses is assessment of student performance. One option for online assessment is the use of open book tests. This study investigated the impact of training in open book test-taking strategies on student test performance in online, timed, unproctored, open book tests. When the tutorial was required immediately before the midterm examination, the experimental group scored significantly higher than the control group. The effect size or magnitude of the difference in means was moderate. When the tutorial was completed immediately before the midterm examination but was not completed before the final examination, the experimental group’s mean final examination score was higher than the control group’s score, but the difference was not significant.

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Glenda C. Rakes is currently a professor of instructional technology at the University of Tennessee at Martin. Dr. Rakes’ current research interests relate to assessment in online learning environments and teacher beliefs regarding the use of instructional technology. She may be contacted at grakes@utm.edu.