Assessing Students' Conceptual Understanding of an Islamic Financial System Course Using the Rasch Wright Map
Abstract
The rapid growth of Islamic finance has increased the need for effective assessment methods that accurately evaluate students’ conceptual understanding of Islamic financial principles beyond the traditional score-based approaches. This study examines the application of the Rasch Wright Map in assessing students’ conceptual understanding of the Islamic financial system course. A quantitative research design was employed involving 84 first-year Islamic Banking students at Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM). Data were collected using a nine-item Exit Survey Test (EST) designed to measure students’ general understanding and practical knowledge of the Islamic financial system. Rasch Model analysis using WINSTEPS 3.71.0.1 demonstrated strong psychometric properties, with item reliability recorded at +0.86 and person reliability at +0.68. The Wright Map provided a visual representation of students’ conceptual mastery by simultaneously mapping person ability and item difficulty along a single logit scale. The findings revealed that 61% of the students demonstrated good conceptual understanding and could apply their knowledge in practical contexts. However, several items related to Islamic capital markets, Islamic money markets, takaful, and retakaful were identified as challenging. The study concludes that the Rasch Wright Map is an effective psychometric tool for evaluating conceptual understanding in Islamic finance education and offers valuable implications for curriculum enhancement and instructional improvement.
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