Why I moved from proctored exams to the open book teaching approach
March 2020 was a whirlwind. When COVID-19 was first reported in the news, many of us had no idea what the impact would be. Some of us assumed that we would be back to our usual routine when the spring term began, myself included, we couldn't have been more wrong. the earlier times
At my institution, I teach introductory nutrition in both a traditional face-to-face format and a fully online version of the course. This course is a high enrollment general education course designed for non-scientific majors and regularly enrolls around 500 students in the face-to-face course and 700-900 students in the fully online course. Before the pandemic, students in the face-to-face course took three non-cumulative exams in person, while students in the virtual course took their exams in our Learning Management System LMS using a virtual proctoring company. Since 2018, I have worked closely with the virtual proctoring company and my team of teaching assistants to ensure we had a robust test day protocol in place, including resolving technical issues. Quick communication with distressed students always emerged. -up exams and more. Through many quarters of trial and error, our team was able to establish a relatively smooth testing experience for our students.
However, the concept of virtual supervision was always something that instilled fear in students. There were privacy anxiety concerns about unfamiliarity and inequity with access to technology, as students needed to have a strong Wi-Fi connection that worked with a webcam/microphone and could not use tablets/Chromebooks due to software requirements. The format of a 45- to 60-minute closed-book timed exam in a high-enrollment class also left little room for questions that could demonstrate critical thinking skills.
Rethink Assessment
The pandemic encouraged me to rethink how we can assess student learning in large general education courses. Last spring the supervision centers had to close and live supervising with a person on the other end was no longer an option. There was an automated system but there were technical difficulties with the system. I was faced with a decision and felt that trying to navigate this new system with over 1,200 students enrolled in the course during a pandemic was not feasible. Thus began my turn to open book exams.
I was asked by one of my graduate school colleagues a couple of years ago about the decision to do online proctored exams, she does online open book exams. At the time, I felt that proctored exams were the gold standard way of maintaining academic integrity. However, I could feel that I was getting tired of the closed questions that were constantly occurring in my exams and felt that the exam material did not fully reflect my objective of the class. I tell the students on the first day that my goal is to give them the tools to be able to make at least a small health improvement. So what if they couldn't list all the enzymes involved in carbohydrate digestion? I wanted them to be able to describe why they were or were not at risk for heart disease and how they could improve their eating pattern, physical activity habits and lifestyle choices.
Writing an open book exam was not an easy task. It took me countless hours to develop questions and seek feedback from education specialists as well as my team of teaching assistants. I have been doing the open book exam format for a few quarters where each exam has multiple question banks >25 consisting of a combination of short answer open ended questions, check all that apply, fill in the drop down menus and some of multiple choice. I now have two non-cumulative exams instead of three, each designed to be an hour long, but students have a three-hour block of time to take the exam. In the announcements and review sessions, I review the expectations of the open book exams and ask them to accept and sign the honor code with their digital signature that is worth one point in the exams.
0 Comments