Pa ge 1 Pa ge 46 American Journal of Education and Technologies (AJET) Exploring Online Writing Assessment in the New Normal: Challenges from Teachers’ Perspective Moanna Marie Dacillo1*, Lord Honey P. Paracueles1, Lowelle Jaye C. Villacorta1, Dr. Oldric J. Licaros2 Volume 1 Issue 2, Year 2022 ISSN: 2832-9481 (Online) DOI: https://doi.org/10.54536/ajet.v1i2.515 https://journals.e-palli.com/home/index.php/ajet Article Information ABSTRACT Received: August 22, 2022 Accepted: September 02, 2022 Published: September 05, 2022 The study was conducted to explore the perspectives of teachers about online writing as- sessment. It also investigated the challenges that teachers encountered and the coping strat- egies the respondents utilized to address the challenges of online writing assessment. Using a researcher-made questionnaire, data from 20 respondents from the Senior High School and College level teachers particularly the College of Education (CED) in Notre Dame of Midsayap College were analyzed quantitatively. Descriptive research design was used in the study. Purposive sampling technique and complete enumeration sampling were utilized to determine the respondents of this study. Findings revealed that the teachers do not have a concrete perspective about online writing assessment as indicated based on the neutral result of the study. Teachers also signified their agreement that the primary challenge in online writing assessment is the presence of academic dishonesty in the written outputs of the stu- dents submitted online. Meanwhile, respondents have a neutral response on the challenges of online writing assessment in terms of lack of training and preparation and the challenges in the availability of technical resources. Findings also revealed that the teachers integrate specific coping strategies to address the challenges in online writing assessment. In response to these findings, constant interventions should be implemented to address these challenges of online writing assessment not only for the teachers but also to the institution and learners. Keywords Academic Dishonesty, Coping Strategies, Online Writing Assessment 1 Bachelor Of Secondary Education major in English, College of Education, Notre Dame of Midsayap College, Midsayap, North Cotabato, Philippines 2 Division Research Coordinator, Department of Education, North Cotabato, Region XII, Philippines * Corresponding author’s e-mail: doyampurias@yahoo.com INTRODUCTION “It is very hard to conduct online writing assessment” (Guangul et al., 2020). This is one of the major challenges that constrains teachers toward online writing assessments. As writing assessment plays a vital role in education, it is the benchmark that serves as a guide for teachers to identify, gauge, and monitor the level of the student’s performance and achievement in a specific instruction. The emergence of online learning and assessment in the education sector and the teaching-learning process is linked with the shift in the learning modality as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Around 1.7 billion students were affected by the closure of schools in 190 countries across the globe (Barron Rodriguez, et al., 2021). Educational institutions were greatly affected, as they have to make significant steps to cope with the changes. Schools, both public and private institutions, need to adopt varieties of learning modalities to continue functioning. Private institutions opted to adopt online learning as a new modality to continue the delivery of education. In relation to the sudden shift of instruction, the new normal education worldwide has imposed an abrupt change in the teaching practices, particularly the online writing assessment of students’ writing skills that have been an unprecedented and novel situation for many teachers (Anasse & Rhandy, 2021). The students’ written outputs (e.g. essay) online have raised concerns about the teachers’ assessment standards. In Indonesia, the importance of online writing assessment has been emphasized. However, teachers encounter several challenges in assessing the online writing outputs of the learners (Togatorop, 2020). The complex nature of online writing assessment needs extra time and effort to ensure its effectiveness in education. Aside from that, Zou et al. (2021) posited that the challenges of online writing assessment encourage the teachers to integrate responses to address these challenges. These lead the teachers to adapt and consider various responses that will mitigate the unforeseen impact of online writing assessments. In the Philippines, the COVID-19 pandemic changes the country’s educational setup. Meanwhile, assessments in new normal education have currently reshaped as Commission on Higher Education (CHED) issued Covid Advisory No. 6 articulating some guidelines regarding assessment (Cahapay, 2020). This means that the pandemic causes drastic changes in the assessment practices of educational institutions. This also poses challenges to the adoption of online writing assessments in the Philippines. In Midsayap, private schools and institutions are observing online and/ or blended learning (a combination of online learning and limited face-to-face classes). Teachers continued to adopt online assessments like examinations, quizzes, discussions, and/or online written evaluations. In Notre Dame of Midsayap College, teachers utilize an educational platform called Schoology in conducting online writing assessments. Teachers encounter several challenges, particularly in the online writing skills assessment of the learners where the focus was on strategies to eliminate academic cheating and plagiarism. It is imperative to consider the unseen effect of online learning particularly in the challenges that teachers https://doi.org/10.54536/ajet.v1i2.515 mailto:https://journals.e-palli.com/home/index.php/ajet%0D?subject= mailto:doyampurias%40yahoo.com?subject= Pa ge 47 https://journals.e-palli.com/home/index.php/ajet Am. J. Educ. Technol. 1(2) 46-61, 2022 encounter in assessing the online written outputs of the students. There have been various international studies on the challenges of online writing assessment that teachers encounter in the new normal, however, there is limited local research that investigates these challenges. In response to this concern, it is now appropriate to conduct a thorough study to explore and investigate these challenges. Such research study is indispensable since the change from traditional to online learning is an indicative factor that mitigates online assessment challenges as well as how teachers integrate coping strategies to these challenges. These gaps prompted the researchers to conduct a study that explores the perception, challenges, and the coping strategies of the teachers to the challenges in online writing assessments. LITERATURE REVIEW Online Writing Assessment Online assessment has been used interchangeably in literature with different terms such as computer- based assessment, computer-assisted assessment, computer-aided assessment, web-based assessment, online assessment, computer-based testing, technology- enhanced assessment, and e-assessment (Stodberg, 2011). In this regard, Falcao and Soeiro (2019) define the term e-assessment as “the use of ICT and the internet in particular for the assessment of learning, including design, delivery, and/or recording of responses.” Thus instead of investigating just students’ flaws in writing and assessing students’ development of writing skills, teachers should also assess their students’ knowledge of the different technological tools and options and how they can be used to solve problems while writing for a networked audience. This is referred to in the literature as digital literacy, which designates the knowledge of using technologies to write in various forms such as hypertexts, images, audio and video, and the rhetorical rules for design and layout (Senturk, 2020). Writing is essential to be taught since writing allows students to think creatively and improve their vocabularies (Dewi, 2020). Assessment for writing still should be done even in online learning. A study conducted by Yusuf (2019) indicates that the application of assessment, especially in the form of feedbacks, supported the students in developing their writing skills. As fully online learning became the norm internationally during the peak of the Covid-19 pandemic, the new face of education paved the way for teachers in many disciplines and in EFL in particular, to have an opportunity to reflect on challenges as well as new opportunities in implementing best practices in ELT (Atmojo & Nugroho, 2020). They also added that elements relating to teachers’ as well as students’ engagement, learners’ autonomy, motivation of both teachers and students, fulfillment of curriculum aims and objectives, and the newly gained experiences of fully online teaching and learning, are all just a part of the holistic encapsulation of online learning. The result of the research of Dwiyanti and Suwastini (2021) conducted at the high school in Denpasar, Indonesia, related to the writing assessment in online learning, showed that the teacher did an online assessment for writing skills in which the teacher tried to design the assessments to be much related to the student’s daily life. Some aspects assessed by the teacher in writing in online learning include grammar, vocabulary, the language used, and content. However, several aspects were not assessed, namely the organization of the writing, discourse, and mechanics (punctuation, spelling, and capitalization). According to Guo and Xu (2021), it is important, however, to envisage the L2 online writing assessment as a process that is preceded by all the variables of L2 pedagogies relating to writing skills and also, as a process leading to testing. A holistic research approach with a comprehensive exploration of the online writing assessment process is indispensable. Al Tameemy et al. (2020) also posited a similar statement in which they reported that the majority of the 660 university students in Saudi Arabia perceived e-assessment on a learning management system platform (Black Board) has a positive attitude towards e-assessment. Similarly, Almossa (2021) who explored the students’ perceptions of their online learning e during the Covid-19 pandemic outbreak, concluded that students’ engagement with learning and assessment was greatly affected by the sudden change from onsite to online where they faced several challenges: coping with the online platform, heavy demand of assignments, and family issues due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Teachers’ Perspective in Online Writing Assessment A recent review of the literature on this topic, Al- Bargi (2022) was one of the first to conduct systematic study about online writing assessment amid Covid-19 pandemic and gathered perspective from the teachers. His participants claimed that “transformation has made a very positive impact in alerting to the actual paradigmatic shift from on site to online and necessitates the adaptation of suitable methods. In his study, some teachers also claimed that the online writing assessment needed a lot of planning and preparation and conducting remote online writing assessment is convenient since they control the number of scripts they grade at their own pace. Teachers also mentioned that there are many benefits to the online environment, and they became more aware of solutions to various issues that occurred in online teaching and learning such as the students became more aware of digital education (Anasse and Rhandy, 2021). On the other hand, Müller et al. (2021) showed that some teachers explained how online learning facilitates thinking about how to engage students, be clearer when explaining concepts, design learning activities, present and scaffold learning, and set assessments that require higher-order thinking. Their study also revealed that online learning motivated teachers to try teaching strategies they wanted to implement for a long time, such as blended learning. Finally, educators talked about https://journals.e-palli.com/home/index.php/ajet Pa ge 48 https://journals.e-palli.com/home/index.php/ajet Am. J. Educ. Technol. 1(2) 46-61, 2022 how online learning triggered their creativity (e.g., use of various technologies) which they thought would benefit their teaching development, in particular, online writing assessment. Zhang et al. (2021). Also found out that one of the experiential factors was teachers’ attitudes toward assessment, in particular the role of assessment in learning and even life of the students. For some teachers, the pandemic was a difficult situation for everyone. From their perspectives, too many changes to the assessments might unnecessarily cause excess level of stress on the students, who were already struggling to keep up with learning during the pandemic. The changes were mostly made on the format to accommodate the online instructional and assessment modality. Conversely, Junus et al. (2021) revealed in their study on Indonesian teachers about the readiness of lecturers for online classes that teachers have strong basic technical skills as a baseline to use online learning platforms for online courses and delivering online writing assessment. Generally, this dimension was the best from the teacher’s perspectives. This research did not find critically bad areas of concern since almost all lecturers have adequate basic technical skills, and most Indonesian people use mobile phones. This shows that lecturers are able to use LMS, with fast adaptation. Interestingly, some respondents claimed that they had no experience of online classes before the pandemic. This research argues that LMS platforms have good usability so that lecturers feel easy, comfortable and satisfied when using them. Moreover, most lecturers state their conformity when leveraging LMS as an assessment medium, not only for teaching agendas, they added. Identically, in their cutting edge study, Müller et al. (2021) reported that educators perceived common instructional methods to address the different student needs mentioned by educators include recording synchronous Zoom sessions, providing manageable time to complete tasks, offering various assessment options, and extending time windows during which tests could be completed (e.g., 24-h windows to complete open-book tests). More recent evidence highlights that the reliability of digital media greatly helped and added to the confidence of teachers and students in which there are many digital media choices such as Google Meet, Google Classroom, Whatsapp, and Zoom Meeting, etc. that teachers can choose. However, the media do not only determine the effectiveness of learning but rather by digital literacy. Therefore, with digital literacy, English teachers can manage English learning more effectively and efficiently. This is indicated by the students’ active communication skills using English (Bozkurt et al., 2020). In the same manner, the results of the study by Alruwais et al. (2018), showed that the vast majority of EFL teachers expressed a moderate attitude towards e-assessment or online assessment. Also, they expressed positive attitudes towards technique used in online assessment where they strongly perceived that the benefits offered to include the ability to more efficiently evaluate different types of assignments and promptly identify students who need academic support. In their analysis, Cundell & Sheepy (2018) reported that students in online learning were drawn to the flexibility of being able to complete course work at any time anywhere and being able to make it fit into their schedules. This is supported by Husain (2021) who asserted that educators need to be trained as the assessment literate educators, with the integration of information communication technology tools. In addition to the above mentioned studies, Yulianto & Mujtahid (2021) conducted a qualitative study in Indonesia where majority of the participants claimed that the online assessment helped educators assessing students’ achievement during the Covid-19 situation. In addition, educators also claimed that both teachers’ and students’ experiences in using technology become another opportunity in the effectiveness of doing the online assessments and increase digital literacy. Equally important, Watermeyer et al. (2020) found that the majority of the academic teachers in their sample felt confident or strongly confident in their ability to carry out online teaching and assessment, and considered their institutions to be supportive in facilitating the move to online delivery. By way of contrast, Chung & Choi (2021) found that instructors’ level of satisfaction towards the new forms of language assessment practices was somewhat low. In their study participants pointed out that the implementation of sustainable language assessment required constant monitoring and feedback about students’ performance in order to facilitate students’ sustainable language learning. According to Naylor & Nyanjom (2020), there was consistent comparison between face-to-face and online teaching in terms of the nature of teaching, building relationships, content knowledge, assessment and evaluation and this was difficult to reconcile. It has now been shown in their study that the changing landscape of teaching, majority of their teacher-participants felt that the emphasis had been placed on learning the technology at the expense of relationships, pedagogy and content knowledge. Challenges of Online Writing Assessment from Teachers’ Perspectives Lack of Training and Preparation The barriers to participation are particularly evident in writing assessment and activities as the online writing assessment also presents challenges for many academic staff who increasingly required to have higher levels of technological competency and proficiency on top of their regular academic workload (Gillet-Swan, 2017). An article by Milosievski et al. (2020) revealed that teachers need serious preparation to use online tools and platforms as well as in the criteria for online writing assessment. Teachers are put in a situation where they are unprepared and without proper support or trainings, they added. https://journals.e-palli.com/home/index.php/ajet Pa ge 49 https://journals.e-palli.com/home/index.php/ajet Am. J. Educ. Technol. 1(2) 46-61, 2022 According to Guangul et al. (2020), conducting writing assessments remotely during COVID-19 has posed extraordinary challenges for higher education institutions owing to lack of preparation superimposed with the inherent problems of remote assessment. The transition from face-to-face assessment to online writing assessment has been a new experience for many English and language teachers (Garcia, 2020). A similar statement by Barrot et al. (2021) revealed that secondary level teachers are greatly challenged in delivering learnings and classroom practice for online writing assessment because of concerns in terms of learning environment control, time-management, assessment practice, preparations, and resource management. Similarly, Handayani & Syarif (2021) also asserted that the issue and challenges in teacher’s preparedness for online writing assessment have challenged the teachers’ online writing assessment as they need to engage in more trainings and webinars regarding online writing assessment. In connection, in the qualitative study conducted by Arnold (2021) one of the participants mentioned that “most of the students are attending the classes and fulfill their homework but now we can’t tell whether they completed the tasks independently or if it was a group effort. As teachers, we found ourselves unprepared. It is really challenging since we never had any training on distance learning.” The analysis of the findings of the study conducted by Ghanbari & Nowroozi (2021) showed that teachers had initially faced serious challenges in terms of pedagogical, technical, administrative, and effective barriers after the shift to online writing assessment. In reference with the barriers, it has been suggested by Hazaea et al. (2021) that the participants addressed the issue that both instructors and students suffer from digital illiteracy. Instructors struggled to prepare their courses as preparing a virtual lesson including assessments is technically more difficult as the challenge was accentuated by the age factor as the younger the better coping capacity with online teaching, they added. Despite the increasing challenges and demands in online writing assessment, teachers were able to adjust to these challenges of online writing assessment (Al-Bargi, 2022). Also, the challenges of online writing assessment in terms of training and preparation are more emphasized due to the lack of digital skills and knowledge of the teachers who are conducting written assessment online, henceforth, the shift from traditional to online submitted the teachers to digital shock, and heightened the concern in online writing assessment, he added. In a major advance recent study, Casacchia et al. (2021) surveyed teachers in which the most problematic areas in the delivery of online writing assessment and preparation seemed to be represented by greater time work for the organization, greater commitment to structuring the materials for the DE lessons, and greater effort in the supervision required in conducting remote exams, especially written assignments due to lack of trainings and preparation. Almost a fifth of the teachers (18 teachers, 21.2%) reported scores relating to the instruction aspects in conducting online writing assessment, highlighting significant difficulties in this area, they added. Similarly, Ghanbari & Nowroozi (2021) stated that the teachers faced several challenges such as misunderstanding of the given instruction, internet connectivity, and difficulty in scoring as a result of the shift of learning and writing assessment from traditional to online. Aside from that, in the study conducted by Simon et al., (2022) in the universities in Australia, results showed that technological difficulties with online connections and resource downloading became the primary challenges for teachers in online writing assessment. Academic Dishonesty In terms of academic dishonesty in online writing assessment, Alghamdi et al. (2016) posited that majority of the Saudi university students’ perception of collaboration on a given written assignment did not consider communication with each other as a form of academic dishonesty or plagiarism since those students were not aware that the regulations regarding online writing assessment were in parallel with an onsite learning environment. Aside from that, Dendir & Maxwell (2020) posited that there is an increasing number of academic dishonesty in online writing assessment as students are free to scan data and information online especially in an unproctored context. There is a significant evidence of academic dishonesty as change in student performance, if any, can therefore be attributed to the mitigation of cheating after online proctoring came into place, and provides direct evidence on the scale of academic dishonesty in online courses. Furthermore, Gonzalez et al. (2020) enumerated that the challenges associated with comparing assessment findings during online writing assessment, “one issue was whether higher test scores during COVID-19 in an online environment without appropriate proctoring mechanisms could be due to cheating rather than an actual improvement in performance.” This means that teachers have to perform further efforts to ensure the academic integrity and validity of the answers of the students, they added. In the interview conducted by Alqurshi (2020) in one of the language teachers in the Philippines, the authenticity and reliability of student’s online writing assessments is subjected to criticism as it can be accessed by students at their own pace, for instance, if the same sets of assessments are given to all students, students who have answered the examination earlier can supply the answers to other students who will take the exam at a later time. About the challenges of emergency remote teaching strategy, the result of the study confirmed the findings of Akour (2020), reporting that teachers complained about what we called the didactic aspect of online learning, https://journals.e-palli.com/home/index.php/ajet Pa ge 50 https://journals.e-palli.com/home/index.php/ajet Am. J. Educ. Technol. 1(2) 46-61, 2022 i.e., the amount of time and the effort needed to design examinations With the increasing demands of online writing assessment, no teacher can assess with certainty whether the homework assigned to students is written independently and assigning separate homework to each individual student is simply an overload and difficulty (Milosievski et al., 2020). According to Gaur et al. (2020), there are three major problems involved cheating in online writing assessment: the first problem is getting the assessment answers in advance, second problem is the unfair retaking of assessments, and the last problem is unauthorized support or collaboration between students during the assessment in which students can hire other individuals to take the assessment for them. These problems can affect the credibility of the assessments, particularly on the adequacy of interpretations of its results, they added. Also, Elsalem et al. (2021) revealed that the majority of the sample was concerned about the increased possibility of cheating during online distance examination, teachers reported a lower impact of such issue, referred to their commitment to the supervision of oral and written examinations. Teachers encounter challenges in online writing assessment because of the limited monitoring scope which makes it harder to govern and manage cheating and academic integrity (An et al., 2021). Similarly, Arnold (2021) posited that in an online, asynchronous writing assessment, whereby the students and instructor do not meet, obtaining reliable assessment measures become more difficult than in a traditional face- to-face class. This is supported by the article of Verheijen (2020) which revealed that the problems with online writing assessment includes the questionable validity and trustworthiness of the student’s output. Subsequently, Turnbull et al. (2021) identified five challenges associated with online education experienced by higher education institutions and these include faculty and student online competence, academic dishonesty, and privacy and confidentiality. This is parallel to the statement of Konig et al. (2020) regarding online writing assessment which reveals that teachers are highly suspicious that cheating and plagiarism is occurring in unproctored online written assessments even though students understand what plagiarism is. Academic dishonesty was the other major technological challenge with online assessment of the students. The teachers were worried about the security of the online exams and if the students were truly assessed. Moreover, they did not know how to develop tests to avoid the possibility of plagiarism to the extent possible (Ghanbari & Nowroozi, 2021). In a study entitled Online Assessment and COVID: Opportunities and Challenges by Simon et al. (2021), results revealed that the increased issues of academic dishonesty in online assessment settings resulted to more challenges, more cases, more difficult detection, more difficult gathering of evidence seem to be widely recognized by teachers involved in online writing assessment of students’ written works online. Challenges in the Availability of Technical Resources In a study conducted by Guangul et al. (2020), he asserted that the problem towards online writing assessment could arise as a result of hardware or software malfunctions, or due to lack of knowhow on the supporting materials by the student. With these challenges, teachers are submitted into a difficult task of adjusting to the new normal in order to continuously improve and develop the online writing assessment for the learners, he added. With the shift from the conventional face-to-face learning to a full-time online education, several challenges arise particularly in the online writing assessment of the teachers. As teachers have to adapt to the changes and factors that influence the assessment of the written outputs of the learners (Handayani & Syarif, 2021). In addition, Yulianto & Mujtahin (2021) asserted that teachers were highly challenged because they have to put further scrutiny in concern about the internet connection and the availability of the technology needed for online class. Similarly, the lack of technical resources in educational institutions significantly contributed to the implementation of online writing assessment as teachers need to extend more efforts to either provide or mediate effective solutions to address this challenge Arnold (2021). In the study titled The Challenges of Online Writing Learning by Bui & Luan (2021), the findings of the study revealed that the unavailability and inaccessibility of technical resources particularly stable internet connection, devices and effective LMS or LMS incompatibility are the challenges that teachers encounter in online writing assessment. In relation, Bui & Luan (2021) also posited a parallel statement in their study whose findings revealed that the unavailability and inaccessibility of technical resources particularly stable internet connection, devises and effective LMS or LMS incompatibility are the challenges that teachers encountered in online writing assessment. The challenge in the availability of technical resources has put major constrains in assessment however, Asio et al. (2021) posited that academic schools and institutions as well as the educational sectors extended their efforts to maximize the internet connectivity for teachers. Similarly, result of the study conducted by Al-Bargi (2022) which revealed that teachers are able to address the challenges of online writing assessment in terms of technical resources and integration because schools and institutions provide support particularly in providing plagiarism checker, applications or websites, suitable LMS, technical assistance, and rubrics or criteria from online writing assessment. “Despite the great efforts invested in online writing instruction, there are still a number of challenges that constrain the implementation of online writing instruction and assessment”, Breuch (2004) cited by https://journals.e-palli.com/home/index.php/ajet Pa ge 51 https://journals.e-palli.com/home/index.php/ajet Am. J. Educ. Technol. 1(2) 46-61, 2022 Anasse & Rhandy (2021).These constrains include lack of computer integration training for writing teachers, the absence of computer-based writing instruction, and teachers’ reluctance to transfer face–to–face activities to virtual spaces as online education becomes a new trend in education, several teachers, especially those who have limited access towards digital and technological competence are usually challenged with the online writing assessment, they added. Moreover, Ablao et al. (2022) from the Philippines posited that, resource limitations serve as a physical barrier for instructors, learners, and educational institutions; this disables education during the COVID-19 pandemic. The absence of enabling resources for education has a strong influence on the implementation of curricular activities. The importance of resources is seen as teachers online writing assessment significantly revolves around the use and integration of technical resources, they added. In relation, using an LMS was not without challenges and limitations especially in online writing assessment, technical issues include: (1) accessibility to hardware, (2) user interface (UI) difficulty, and (3) Information Technology (IT) department resource management (Macapagal, 2022). Coping Strategies to the Challenges on Online Writing Assessment Effective writing assessment in an online classroom takes a fresh look at just how instructors may help learners to improve skills and perform more productively in an online learning community (Guangul et al., 2020). Dwiyanti & Suwastini (2021) posited that to overcome the problem of plagiarism, teachers must use a plagiarism checker and manage their time between planning, teaching, and assessing. Correspondingly, Chen et al. (2020) found that in the reward and punishment mechanism, honor and punishment mechanisms are also applied and generally effective in teaching. They also emphasized that in order to avoid plagiarism, students are given constant reminder about the consequences of behavior. In addition, issues of student verification and identification provides further opportunity for a third party to take an assessment on behalf of the student. No technology is full proof enough to detect online cheating as students have found unique and innovative ways of beating the system (Gamage et al., 2020). Moreover, students observe how faculty members act and behave. Faculty members who ignore academic dishonesty send the message that the core values of academic life are not worth enforcing. For this reason, teachers should be the epitome of integrity who constantly emphasize the rules and policies about cheating (Gullifer & Tyson, 2013). In the study of Anasse & Rhandy (2021), the concerns in utilizing online writing assessment are the problems of digital literacy skills of the students and the lack of background knowledge of online writing assessment of the teachers. For this reason, it showed that it is necessary for teachers to engage in designing programs for online writing assessment like trainings and worships. This is similar to the findings of Mirza (2021) which reveal that teacher participants received limited training to conduct classes online, and no training to assess their students. In contrast, Junus et. al. (2021) study reveals that lecturers are able to use LMS, with fast adaptation. Interestingly, some respondents claimed that they had no experience of online classes before the pandemic. This research argues that LMS platforms have good usability so that lecturers feel easy, comfortable and satisfied when using them. Moreover, most lecturers state their conformity when leveraging LMS as an assessment medium, not only for teaching agenda. Furthermore, Handayani & Sharif (2021) gave three important ways for teachers to respond to the different problems arise during online writing assessment. In the results, the lecturers or teachers must analyse the institutional and educator preparedness. Instructional preparedness are the instructional policies, resources like the technology used in assessment, internet access and the availability of IT support staff. Teachers must also undergo training about teaching methods in online learning and how to use the technology used for assessing students writing online. Secondly, teachers must be aware of different cheating methods that may occur throughout the test. Lastly, teachers must consider students’ diversity, they enumerated. However, Zou et al. (2021) also revealed that to alleviate the possible technological barriers, companies can make ICT tools more responsive to teachers’ needs and provide clear instructions on how to integrate them in writing. It proved that trainings and seminars are vital for preparing teachers in online teaching especially in writing assessment. Moreover, Al-Bargi (2022) study result on descriptive statistics indicated that the majority of the teachers agreed that they integrated full rubrics for online writing as EFL teachers are aware of the importance of rubrics and standardized assessment procedures in awarding fair grades to students. The study of Ghanbari & Nowroozu (2021) found out that teachers learned to do all of their writing evaluations online as they sought answers by seeking assistance or trying with alternative techniques in using LMS (Learning Management Systems) and the technology they utilized. They also added that despite the fact that some issues remained at the end of the writing course, the teachers must continue to practice good writing assessments by dynamically experimenting and adapting their assessments to the available materials and circumstances. In addition, because online learning requires more time than face-to-face classes to be well-prepared and ready, planning and preparation will undoubtedly be done in the future for better online learning. Teachers must be properly taught and equipped with necessary information and skills to maximize their online learning activities (Atmojo & Nugroho, 2020). https://journals.e-palli.com/home/index.php/ajet Pa ge 52 https://journals.e-palli.com/home/index.php/ajet Am. J. Educ. Technol. 1(2) 46-61, 2022 In line with this, Martin et al. (2019) study shows that teaching online requires fixed allocation of scheduled time for course design and grading, spending weekly hours to grade assignments and scheduling weekly hours to facilitate the online course as tasks that they can do well. Faculty not only rated spending weekly hours to grade assignments as very important but also rated it as a task that they can do well. The transition to online learning must be accompanied by an explanation of what is expected of students to avoid especially in cheating, despite the change in learning environment, the rules surrounding expectations and student conduct remains the same (Alghamdi et al, 2016). As a summary of the related studies and literature, the shift of learning modality from traditional to online has resulted to unforeseen and significant challenges and educational concerns have emerged. Numerous studies and researches have confronted these challenges and investigated ways to discuss and lessen them, however, there is a significant need to conduct a further study that will investigate the challenges of online writing assessment and how the teachers respond to these challenges. As fully online learning became the new norm both nationally and internationally amidst COVID-19 pandemic, the new normal education paved way for teachers to encounter challenges on online writing assessment. Such challenges relating to online writing assessment, particularly in terms of academic integrity or dishonesty, preparedness of teachers, technical resources and support from the academic institutions. As online writing assessment is the visible result of the shift of learning modality, it draws the teachers to several challenges. These challenges on online writing assessment are all part of the holistic encapsulation of the shift towards online learning. Hence, teachers and academic institutions have to determine significant steps and strategies to address and limit the impact of these challenges in learning. Also, different studies and researches have posited that despite the great efforts invested in online writing assessment, there are still a number of challenges that constrain the implementation of online writing instruction and assessment. These challenges require the teachers to determine possible responses or solutions to mitigate these challenges. These responses relating to strengthening the academic integrity by integrating online plagiarism checker and applications as well as managing time between planning, teaching and assessment. Aside from that, teachers are also starting to adapt variety of techniques to improve their digital and information literacy and preparedness. They engage themselves in trainings, webinars and workshops that emphasize the importance of online learning and online writing assessment. Subsequently, teachers along with the academic institutions integrate ICT tools that increase or support the effectiveness of online writing assessment in the curriculum. In response to this, several researches and studies have explored online writing assessment, however, these studies have only focused on the challenges and opportunities of online writing assessment. These studies have explored the challenges and opportunities of online writing assessment; however, it is empirical to conduct a thorough research about the perspectives of teachers on online writing assessment, the challenges and how the teachers respond to these challenges especially in Notre Dame of Midsayap College which adopted online learning since the academic year 2020-2021 until present. This study is indispensable as it will benefit the teachers, institution, and learners to determine and understand how these challenges affect the assessment of writing in learning online. MATERIALS AND METHODS Figure 1: Conceptual Framework Showing the Input, Process and Output of the Study Research Design The study used a descriptive research design. It is descriptive research because it would describe the teachers’ perspectives on online writing assessment, the challenges in online writing assessments, and the respondents’ coping strategies on the challenges of online writing assessment in the new normal. In addition, in conducting the survey of this study, the researchers utilized a researcher-made survey questionnaire as an instrument of the study. Sampling Technique The researchers utilized the purposive and complete enumeration sampling techniques in selecting the respondents. Purposive sampling is a non-probability sampling in which the researchers will rely on their own judgment when choosing respondents to participate in the survey. Since the study focused on online writing assessments, the researchers only selected respondents who are teaching English and Filipino subjects. The researchers also employed complete enumeration https://journals.e-palli.com/home/index.php/ajet Pa ge 53 https://journals.e-palli.com/home/index.php/ajet Am. J. Educ. Technol. 1(2) 46-61, 2022 sampling to all English and Filipino teachers from Senior High School and College particularly the College of Education departments of the Notre Dame of Midsayap College. There are 20 English and Filipino teachers from Senior High School and College particularly from the College of Education (CED) levels in Notre Dame of Midsayap College in the academic year 2020-2021 and 2021-2022. Research Instrument This study utilized researcher-made questionnaires from the studies “Exploring Online Writing Assessment Amid Covid-19: Challenge and Opportunities from Teachers’ Perspectives” (Al-Bargi, 2022) and “Teachers’ Attitudes towards Online Writing Assessment during Covid-19 Pandemic” (Anasse & Rhandy, 2021). The items of the questionnaire were modified according to the context of the study. This questionnaire has four major parts. Part 1 of the questionnaire contained the demographic profile of the respondents in terms of age, sex, designation, and subject being taught. The second, third and fourth parts of the instrument utilized a 5-point Likert Scale where 5 is Strongly Agree, 4 is Agree, 3 is Neutral, 2 is Disagree, and 1 is Strongly Disagree. Part 2 dwelled on the perspectives of teachers on online writing assessment. The teachers will answer an 8-item table consisting of statements about teachers’ perspectives on online writing assessment which was rated using the 5-point scale. Part 3 of the questionnaire dwelled on the challenges that teachers encounter in online writing assessment. This consists of 13 items where 5 items are categorized in “Training and Preparation”, 4 items in “Academic Dishonesty” and 4 items in “Availability of Technical Resources” which was rated using the 5-point scale. Part 4 of the questionnaire dwelled on the coping strategies of the respondents on the challenges of online writing assessment. This part consists of 9 items made based on the related literature of the study about the coping strategies of teachers on the challenges of online writing assessment which was rated using the 5-point scale. Validity and Reliability The researchers submitted the questionnaire to the research adviser, proof-reader, instructor, and validators to look into the appropriateness of the format of the instrument, grammatical construction, and clarity of instructions. Thus, the validity of the instructions was achieved. The questionnaire was pilot tested to a total of 15 teachers teaching English and Filipino subjects where 7 teachers were from the Junior High School department of Notre Dame of Midsayap College and 8 teachers were from the classification of respondents from outside the campus. Cronbach’s Alpha was used to determine the reliability of items. The obtained alpha value of 0.722 which indicated an acceptable reliability of the instrument. Data Gathering Procedure This research followed a systematic and orderly procedure as follows: A letter was sent to the Assistant Principal of the Junior High School of Notre Dame of Midsayap College asking permission to conduct a pilot testing to the Junior High School (JHS) teachers. Then, a letter was also sent to the Dean of College of Education and the Assistant Principal of the Senior High School of Notre Dame of Midsayap College to conduct the final survey. The questionnaire was either personally administered (with printed copies) or conducted online (with Google forms) to the respondents after the researchers received the approval. After the respondents answered the questionnaire, the researchers retrieved them. In administering the survey in personal or face-to-face set-up, 16 printed questionnaires were given to the respondents and all copies were retrieved. In the online survey with the aid of Google forms, 4 links were sent and all of these were successfully retrieved. Overall, a total of 20 survey questionnaire (printed and Google forms) were administered and retrieved by the researchers from the respondents. Then, the data gathered were subjected to analysis using a statistical program by the research statistician. Data Analysis Procedure The researchers used the appropriate statistical tools for each problem statement. For problems 1, 2 and 3, the weighted mean and standard deviation were computed to determine the extent of each item regarding the perspective of teachers about online writing assessment, the challenges that the respondents encountered in online writing assessment in terms of Lack of Training and Preparation, Academic Dishonesty, and Challenges in the Availability of Technical Resources, and the coping strategies utilized by the respondents to the challenges of online writing assessment. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Table 1. presents the data on the perspectives of teachers from Notre Dame of Midsayap College about online writing assessment. Based on the findings, among the eight Table 1: Teachers’ Perspective on Online Writing Assessment Item Mean SD Description As a teacher… 1 I prefer online writing assessment to paper writing assessment. 3.45 1.32 Neutral 2 I think that online writing assessment is similar to paper writing assessment. 2.80 1.24 Neutral 3 I think that online writing assessment is based on the conventional writing assessment criteria. 3.40 1.23 Neutral https://journals.e-palli.com/home/index.php/ajet Pa ge 54 https://journals.e-palli.com/home/index.php/ajet Am. J. Educ. Technol. 1(2) 46-61, 2022 4 I think that online writing assessment involves digital and information literacy. 4.00 0.97 Agree 5 I think that online writing assessment measures students’ writing progress. 3.25 1.25 Neutral 6 I think that online writing assessment is more convenient than the conventional writing assessment. 3.30 1.13 Neutral 7 I think that it is easier to grade typed-student assessments than handwritten assessments. 3.45 1.15 Neutral 8 I think that students can finish more writing exercises online than on a piece of paper in the same amount of time. 3.60 0.94 Agree Overall 3.41 1.15 Neutral items in the perspectives of teachers on online writing assessment, item number 4, “I think that online writing assessment involves digital and information literacy” has the highest rating and described as Agree. This implies that teachers perceived that literacy in using technology and media is essential in administering writing assessment online. Since the assessment focused on writing, skills in validating the written outputs by the students is salient. In addition, it is not only the teachers that should have sustainable knowledge in utilizing technology and instructional media for online teaching but students must also possess skills in using the technology for their learning. This finding agrees to findings of Husain (2021) who asserted that educators need to be trained as the assessment literate educators, with the integration of information communication technology tools. Moreover, teachers’ and students’ experience in using technology became an opportunity in an online assessment (Yulianto & Mujtahid, 2021). This is followed by item number 8, “I think that students can finish more writing exercises online than on a piece of paper in the same amount of time” described as Agree. This indicates that for teachers, online writing assessment is faster than the paper writing assessment. This finding supports to the result of Cundell and Sheepy (2018) who found that students in online learning were drawn to the flexibility of being able to complete course work at any time anywhere and being able to make it fit into their schedule. On the other hand, item number 2, “I think that online writing assessment is similar to paper writing assessment” got the lowest mean and described as Neutral. This indicates that teachers are uncertain if there are similarities in assessing the students writing skills between online and paper writing. The standard deviation shows that the teachers have extremely opposite response. This finding is in contrary to the study of Naylor and Nyanjom (2020), who argued that there was a consistent comparison between face-to-face and online teaching in terms of nature of teaching, building relationships, content knowledge, assessment, and evaluation and this was difficult to reconcile. The overall result on the specified items under the teachers’ perspective on online writing assessment is Neutral. The overall finding indicates that the teachers don’t have concrete understanding about online writing assessment. This finding is contrary to the findings of the study of Anasse & Rhandy (2021) which states that the majority of the respondents have low-level of perception in online writing assessment. Challenges that Teachers Experienced in Online Writing Assessment The data pertaining to the challenges of teachers experienced in online writing assessment in terms of Training and Preparation, Academic Dishonesty, Availability of Technical Resources are condensed in Table 2a, Table 2b, and Table 2c, Table 2d, respectively. Table 2: Lack of Training and Preparation Item Mean SD Description Training and Preparation In terms of training and preparation, I am challenged because… 1. I face difficulties in delivering instruction in assessing students’ writing skills online. 3.35 1.04 Neutral 2. I do not have a background knowledge about online writing assessment. 2.15 0.99 Disagree 3. I do not have a background knowledge about digital writing skill. 2.15 0.93 Disagree 4. I do not have enough training on online writing assessment. 2.60 1.10 Neutral 5. I am not sure if I evaluate the students’ written works online the same way other teachers do. 2.90 1.07 Neutral Overall 2.63 1.03 Neutral The results signified that among the five items under training and preparation, item 1, “I face difficulties in delivering instruction in assessing students’ writing skills online” got the highest mean and described as Neutral. This finding implies that the teachers are not sure whether they encounter difficulties of giving instruction to the students in online writing setup. The dispersion of the standard deviation in this item indicates that the respondents have varying responses regarding the challenge in delivering instruction in assessing the students’ writing skills online. This finding is in contrary with the findings of Barrot, Llenares & Del Rosario (2021) which revealed that secondary level teachers are significantly challenged in delivering learnings and https://journals.e-palli.com/home/index.php/ajet Pa ge 55 https://journals.e-palli.com/home/index.php/ajet Am. J. Educ. Technol. 1(2) 46-61, 2022 classroom practice for online writing assessment because of concerns in terms of learning environment control and time-management. This is followed by item 5, “I am not sure if I evaluate the students’ written works online the same way other teachers do” also described as Neutral. This finding indicates that teachers are confused as to what is the correct way of assessing written output online. In addition, the finding reveals that the teachers are unsure on how the evaluation of students’ online writing assessment should be administered based on their own criteria of evaluation and from other teachers. The high standard deviation of this item indicates that the teachers have dispersed responses in terms of their certainty in evaluating students’ written works online. The findings contrasted the statement of Ghanbari & Nowroozi (2021) who elaborated that teachers had initially faced serious challenges in terms of pedagogical, technical, administrative and effective barriers after the shift to online writing assessment; struggled to prepare the courses as preparing a virtual lesson including assessment is technically more difficult as the challenges were accentuated (Hazaea et al., 2021), however, teachers were able to adjust to these challenges of online writing assessment (Al-Bargi, 2022). On the other hand, the teachers signified their disagreement in item 2, “I do not have background knowledge about online writing assessment” and item 3, “I do not have background knowledge about digital writing skill” got the lowest mean and described as Disagree, respectively. These findings imply that teachers are digitally skilful and competent, and have the background knowledge about digital writing skill. These findings imply that teachers have not experienced the challenge or difficulty in the integration of digital skills and competence in online writing assessment. Furthermore, these findings also suggest that the teachers were able to adapt to the technological advancement and competence in online writing assessment. The results are in contrary to the findings of Al-Bargi (2022) who posited that the challenges of online writing assessment in terms of training and preparation are more emphasized due to the lack of digital skills and knowledge of the teachers who are conducting written assessment online. The shift from traditional to online submitted the teachers to digital shock, and heightened the concern in online writing assessment, he added. Academic Dishonesty Table 3 presents the teachers’ challenges in online writing assessment in terms of academic dishonesty. Table 3: Academic Dishonesty Item Mean SD Description Academic Dishonesty In terms of academic dishonesty, I am challenged because… 1. I encounter difficulty in validating that there is no cheating in an unproctored online writing assessment. 4.00 1.08 Agree 2. I think that students’ written work submitted online do not reflect their true proficiency and learning comprehension. 4.10 0.64 Agree 3. I find sufficient evidence that online writing assessment cannot be as authentic and reliable compared to conventional face-to-face writing assessment. 4.35 0.59 Agree 4. I find evidences of academic cheating, dishonesty and plagiarism in students’ written works online. 4.25 0.72 Neutral Overall 4.18 0.76 Neutral Results show that the respondents agreed with the specified items in the challenges of online writing assessment in terms of Academic Dishonesty. Among the four items, item number 3, “I find sufficient evidence that online writing assessment cannot be as authentic and reliable compared to conventional face-to-face writing assessment” got the highest mean and described as Agree. This finding implies that teachers observed substantial evidences that the authenticity and reliability of online writing assessment is highly questionable compared to the conventional face-to-face or traditional writing assessment. This finding also indicates that teachers do not find the students’ written works online fully satisfactory and reliable. This finding affirms the statement of Arnold (2021) who posited that online, asynchronous writing assessment, whereby the students and instructor do not meet, obtaining reliable assessment measures becomes more difficult. Also, no teacher can assess with certainty whether the homework assigned to students is written independently and assigning separate homework to each individual student is simply an overload and difficulty (Milosievski et al. 2020). This is followed by item 4, “I find evidences of academic cheating, dishonesty and plagiarism in students’ written works online” which is also described as Agree. This finding implies that teachers find proof and evidences that there are forms of dishonesty in students’ work online. In addition, the integrity of the students’ written work submitted online is put into criticism, as teachers do not find these outputs reliable. This finding agrees with Verheijen (2022) who revealed that the problems with online writing assessment includes the questionable validity and trustworthiness of the student’s output. Furthermore, teachers perceived that online writing assessment could be challenging because it is difficult to assure academic integrity and full-competence of the learners as the latter may ask received unauthorized help and assistance, he added. On the other hand, item 1, “I encounter difficulty in validating that there is no cheating in an unmonitored https://journals.e-palli.com/home/index.php/ajet Pa ge 56 https://journals.e-palli.com/home/index.php/ajet Am. J. Educ. Technol. 1(2) 46-61, 2022 online writing assessment” got the lowest mean and described as Agree. This finding implies that teachers find it difficult to validate the integrity and trustworthiness of students’ written works online especially in an unsupervised assessment process. The finding agrees with Dendir and Maxwell (2020) who posited that there is an increasing number of academic dishonesty in online writing assessment as students are free to scan data and information online especially in an unmonitored assessment like online examinations, discussions, and essays. Also, they added that there is a significant evidence of academic dishonesty as change in student performance, if any, can therefore be attributed to the mitigation of cheating after online proctoring came into place, and provides direct evidence on the scale of academic dishonesty in online courses. Challenges in the Availability of Technical Resources Table 4 presents the teachers’ challenges in online writing assessment in terms of availability of technical resources. Table 4: Challenges in the Availability of Technical Resources Item Mean SD Description Availability of Technical Resources There is… 1. lack of hardware devices for my online writing assessment. 2.75 1.29 Neutral 2. lack of technical support from the institution. 2.30 1.08 Disagree 3. LMS incompatibility to my online writing platform. 2.80 1.36 Neutral 4. insufficient or unreliable internet and local network capabilities 3.30 1.34 Neutral Overall 2.79 1.27 Neutral The respondents signified their highest rating on item number 4, “there is insufficient or unreliable internet and local network capabilities” wherein they have a neutral response. This finding signifies that teachers are uncertain whether they encounter a challenge in writing assessment in terms of poor and intermittent internet connection in the locality. This finding disagrees with the study of Bui & Luan (2021) whose findings revealed that the unavailability and inaccessibility of technical resources particularly stable internet connection, devises and effective LMS or LMS incompatibility are the challenges that teachers encountered in online writing assessment, however, despite these challenges, Asio et al. (2021) posited that academic schools and institutions as well as the educational sectors extended their efforts to maximize the internet connectivity for teachers. This is followed by item number 3, “there is LMS incompatibility in online writing platform” wherein teachers responded neutral. This finding indicates that teachers have an undecided response regarding the compatibility and suitability of Learning Management System used in administering the online writing assessment. This is contrary to the statement of Ablao et al. (2022) who emphasized that the importance of compatible resources is seen as teachers’ online writing assessment significantly revolves around the use and integration of technical resources. On the other hand, item number 2, “there is lack of technical support from the institution” got the lowest rating and described as Disagree. This finding implies that the teachers’ need regarding the technicalities and technical resources are well supported and addressed by the institution. The institution already provide technical assistance and help for the teachers in administering online writing assessments, and the extent of the technical support from the institution is emphasized. This finding agrees with the result of the study conducted by Al-Bargi (2022) which revealed that teachers are able to address the challenges of online writing assessment in terms of technical resources and integration because schools and institutions provide support particularly in providing plagiarism checker, applications or websites, suitable LMS, technical assistance, and rubrics or criteria from online writing assessment. Overall Result of the Challenges in Online Writing Assessment Table 5 presents the overall result of the challenges in online writing assessment in terms of lack of training and preparation, academic dishonesty and challenges in the availability of technical resources. The overall result shows that the respondents are neutral in the challenges in online writing assessment in terms of training and preparation, academic dishonesty and availability of technical resources. This finding implies that the teachers encounter fair and moderate challenges in online writing assessment. In terms of the challenges in training and preparation and availability of technical resources, teachers signify their undecidedness and uncertainty. However, teachers signify their agreement that the presence of academic Table 5: Overall Result of the Challenges in Online Writing Assessment Category Mean SD Description Training and Preparation 2.63 1.03 Neutral Academic Dishonesty 4.18 0.76 Agree Availability of Technical Resources 2.79 1.27 Neutral Grand Mean 2.82 Neutral Grand Standard Deviation 1.02 https://journals.e-palli.com/home/index.php/ajet Pa ge 57 https://journals.e-palli.com/home/index.php/ajet Am. J. Educ. Technol. 1(2) 46-61, 2022 dishonesty is the major challenge they encountered in online writing assessment. These findings imply that the teachers are uncertain whether they experience challenges and difficulties in training and preparation as well as in the availability of technical resources in online writing assessment or no significant challenges were encountered throughout the process. On the contrary, academic dishonesty is concern that continues to proliferate in online writing assessment as this is beyond the scope and control of the teachers. These findings are parallel with the study of Al-Bargi (2022) who revealed that the teachers stated their concerns as online writing assessment could be a challenge because it is difficult to assure academic integrity and whether the students have received unauthorized help and assistance. Also, in online writing assessment, it appears that teachers are highly suspicious that cheating and plagiarism is occurring in unmonitored or unsupervised online written assessments even though students understand what plagiarism is (Konig et al., 2020). Table 6: Coping Strategies on the Challenges on Online Writing Assessment Item Mean SD Description Despite the challenges in online writing assessment, 1. I give enough time for the students to submit the written output online. 4.40 0.68 Agree 2. I attend webinars, virtual conferences and trainings for online assessment or online writing assessment. 3.85 1.09 Agree 3. I familiarize myself with the different procedures for the online writing assessment in the Learning Management System (LMS) and other learning tools. 4.40 0.68 Agree 4. I provide scoring rubrics for online writing assessment. 4.45 0.69 Agree 5. I spend weekly hours grading students written output submitted online. 4.55 0.61 Strongly Agree 6. I remind the students about the compliance regarding academic dishonesty like plagiarism. 4.45 0.69 Agree 7. I use software applications to detect and deal with plagiarism issues. 4.10 0.97 Agree 8. I up skill myself in new technologies and resources for online writing assessment. 4.25 0.64 Agree 9. I collaborate academically with my colleagues to address the issues and challenges in online writing assessment. 3.95 0.83 Agree Overall 4.27 0.76 Agree This table presents the coping strategies utilized by the respondents to address the challenges in online writing assessment. The findings show that the teachers have effectively employed coping strategies to the challenges in online writing assessment. The majority of the participants hold high-level of agreement in item number 5, “I spend weekly hours grading the students’ written output” which garnered the highest mean and described as Strongly Agree. The result generally implies that teachers give much time in checking, reading, and giving constructive criticism on the authenticity of the students written output. This also indicates that it is the notable coping strategy of the teachers to the major challenges faced by majority of the teachers, wherein they pointed out ‘Academic Dishonesty’ as a challenge in online writing assessment, as teachers roundly evaluate the written work of the students to detect if there is an involvement of plagiarism, or cheating. Equally important, the written assessment of the students must be also manually checked and evaluated empirically to determine the progress and performance of the students and the monitor the effectiveness of the teaching and assessment. This is in line with the study done by Martin et al. (2019), who found that teaching online requires fixed allocation of scheduled time for course design and grading, spending weekly hours to grade assignments and scheduling weekly hours to facilitate the online course as professional tasks that they can do well. The findings obtained from this study also show that the teachers Agreed with item number 4, “I provide scoring rubrics for online writing assessment.” In this regard, the teachers strongly perceived the importance of rubrics in the teaching and learning process; not just only in face-to-face class but also in online setting as this is an efficient tool that will help them clarify both content and outcomes of the written output made by the students. This also denotes that it is the notable coping strategy of the teachers to the major challenges faced by the teachers in online writing assessment which is categorized as ‘Training and Preparation’ as teachers equipped themselves with the essential tool for a better evaluation same with the conventional writing assessment. It is in the same line as the result of the similar study done by Al-Bargi (2022), who argued that teachers integrated full rubrics for online writing as EFL teachers are aware of the importance of rubrics and standardized assessment procedure in giving an award for fair grades to students. Teachers also agreed with item number 6, “I remind the students about the compliance regarding academic dishonesty like plagiarism.” This implies that the teachers consistently make the students think about the unfavourable effect of cheating, plagiarism, and fabrication or falsification of the written work. In addition, the missing actual monitoring during online writing assessment may lead students to seek assistance and copy the content from the internet or student will ask a friend to answer the assessment for them. This also indicates that it is the notable coping strategy of the teachers to the major challenges faced by majority of the https://journals.e-palli.com/home/index.php/ajet Pa ge 58 https://journals.e-palli.com/home/index.php/ajet Am. J. Educ. Technol. 1(2) 46-61, 2022 teachers that is ‘Academic Dishonesty’. It is the same line as the finding from research conducted by Chen et al. (2021), who found that in the reward and punishment mechanism, honour and punishment mechanism are also applied and generally effective in teaching and learning process. They also emphasized that in order to avoid plagiarism; students are given constant reminder about the negative effect of behaviour. According to Gamage et Al (2020), no technology is full proof enough to detect online cheating as students have found sophisticated and generative ways of beating the system. On the other hand, item number 2, “I attend webinars, virtual conferences, and trainings for online assessment or online writing assessment” got the lowest rating but still described as Agree. This implies that the teachers already have either basic or expert digital literacy background. This also denotes that it is the inferior coping strategy of the teachers to one of the prominent challenges faced by majority of the teachers that categorized as ‘Training and Preparation’. Likewise, this result also indicate that the teachers are also confident with the technological tools they use for online writing assessment and they have no longer need much trainings since they already know the fundamental scope of online assessment. It is in line with result of the study conducted by Junus et al. (2021), who found that teachers are able to use LMS, with fast adaptation. Moreover, the result of his study also found that most of the teachers state their coherence when leveraging LMS as an assessment medium, not only for teaching agenda. With this in mind, the overall mean of the teachers’ coping strategies to the challenges in online writing assessment in the new normal education is considered as high-level response. This implies that the teachers in Notre Dame of Midsayap College provide an alternative coping strategies with such challenges along through the monumental shift in the writing assessment process. CONCLUSIONS The shift from traditional to full-time online learning modality has dramatically changed the utilization and the process of administering assessments, especially in writing. The English and Filipino teachers at Notre Dame of Midsayap College showed that they have uncertainty in terms of their perspectives on online writing assessment. Moreover, writing assessments conducted online became challenging and difficult as teachers are among those who are significantly affected by this change. The challenges in online writing assessment must be given attention as these influence the teachers’ implementation of online writing assessment in the new normal. Academic dishonesty appeared to be the primary challenge on online writing assessment. With the increasing challenges in online writing assessment, the English and Filipino teachers at Notre Dame of Midsayap College have adapted specific coping strategies to address and neutralize these challenges. The findings of this study will help the academe to improve the conduct of online writing assessment. Teachers, academic constituents and educational institution will have a parameter as to how the changes in learning modality particularly online, affected the writing assessment. As this study is limited among the language teachers in Notre Dame of Midsayap College, further research that explores the challenges of online writing assessment from other subject teachers and students as well as on the opportunities of online writing assessment can be conducted. Acknowledgements We bring back all the highest praise, thanksgiving and honor to the source of knowledge and wisdom, our Almighty God, who constantly provides strength, patience, and motivation. He bestowed us everything that we need physically, mentally, emotionally, financially and spiritually. His unending love to us has sustained us to be able to finish this research study. We express our heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to the following individuals for their guidance, support, advice and motivation for the completion of the research project. We thank Dr. Honeylyn M. Mahinay, EdD, Dean of the College of Education, for allowing us to conduct the study. We also thank Mrs. Teresita G. Arellano, LPT, Assistant Principal of Senior High School, for the generous cooperation to allow us to conduct the survey. We extend our heartfelt thanks to Dr. Oldric J. Licaros, PhD, our research adviser, for his support, advices, recommendations, and supervision in our study. His expertise in the field of research made great contributions in the completion of our study. Our statistician, Mr. Melchor Arcenas, LPT, is also acknowledged for his unwavering commitment to develop the fundamental components of this research and his relentless assistance, particularly in the thorough data analysis and interpretation this research. We express our appreciation to our reader, Mr. Ricardo O. Quiñones, LPT, MaEd- English, for his instructional and technical support in our study and detailed examination of our work. We also express our gratitude to Ms. Ivy M. Macagba, LPT, MALT, research instructress, for her guidance and supervision in the completion of our research project. We also express our sincere appreciation to Dr. Michelle T. Viña, the validator of our study, for sharing her expertise, constructive feedbacks, and technical support in this study. We also extend our appreciation to our respondents, the teachers in the SHS and the College of Education, for their cooperation. We also thank the panelists Ms. Angel Lhi D. Alcalde, MST, Mr. Lorienel D. Madeloso, MPA, and Mr. Romeo JR., V. Bordios, MAST for sharing their expertise, constructive feedback and advices in the completion of our research. We humbly and joyfully express our thanks to our friends https://journals.e-palli.com/home/index.php/ajet Pa ge 59 https://journals.e-palli.com/home/index.php/ajet Am. J. Educ. Technol. 1(2) 46-61, 2022 and classmates for the love and support especially moral and financial. This has driven us to do more and persevere more. Lastly, we humbly express our gratitude to Mr. Diosdado L. Ampurias, Mr. Aldom J. 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