Absolute Electronic Assessments and Corrections Adoption for Students' Happiness: Crucial Elements of Economic and Forest Conservation

Abstract

Electronic assessments and corrections (EAC) of assignments, continuous assessments, and projects over type-printed versions stimulate students’ happiness owing to its economic and forest conservation components. Hence, the objective of this paper was to evaluate the crucial elements of economic and forest conservation by adopting absolute electronic assessments over typed-and-printed paper submissions (TPPS) for corrections in a Faculty of Agriculture at a Tertiary Institution in Rivers State, Nigeria, by collecting data from 188 500L using a Google Form questionnaire. The happiness index was determined using the Cantril Ladder scale as well as appropriate statistical tools. The data showed a low average students' happiness index (3.58); however, students in Forestry and Wildlife Management (4.79), Animal Science (4.26), and Fisheries (3.98) showed significantly higher happiness than students in other departments. The estimated economic cost of the printed paper submissions was ₦6,761,354.00 ($4,829.52) per session, compared to ₦370,970.8 ($264.97) for the electronic submissions. Study estimates indicated that participants used 326.55 reams of 80 gm A4-sized paper during their final year session, at an average cost of ₦41.41 ($0.029) per printing page. This is comparable to 741.28 kg of dried pulp, or 20.4 pulp trees. The substantial financial strain students endured on typed-and-printed paper submissions—more importantly, research project corrections have a profound negative impact on their happiness. By phasing out TPPS at the institutions of learning, students' happiness would be enhanced, while considerable economic and forest resources could be conserved.