Abstract:

Traditional education implies that the teacher gives lectures, defines the learning materials and finally checks the adoption of the learning outcomes by the students. The task of the students in this F2F teaching method is focused on listening carefully to the lectures and preparing for the exam where they will show what they have really learned. The research results published so far show that during the Covid-19 pandemic, when online classes were held, only a small number of teachers took a truly active role in providing a completely new approach to teaching, including new ways of evaluating learning outcomes. Unlike them, the students adapted better to the new situation. They used available online content with greater interest, followed online lectures sporadically and even more often than before came up with new ways and sources of support in rewriting during online exams.

No form of cheating on an exam can be ignored, so it was interesting to see how the students at the Zagreb University of Applied Sciences (TVZ) coped during online exams. The research was conducted based on a WEB survey in which, in addition to undergraduate and graduate students of all study programs offered at TVZ, also participated their teachers. The obtained results indicate that many students at TVZ during online knowledge tests were not ready for responsible solving of exam tasks in an academically acceptable and honourable way. Accustomed to digital communication on social networks, students showed exceptional creativity during the online exam in devising different solutions to unethical approaches. Although their professors were already familiar with the existence of sporadic unethical behaviour of students during exams, this issue has additionally come to the fore during the online knowledge test. Despite the results of the analysis of the students' learning outcomes after the online knowledge test showed almost the same level of success as in previous years, the teachers noticed some new challenges they faced. They realized that their lack of close supervision during online exams among students further encourages the creation of new opportunities for cheating. Despite the clear and timely communication of criteria and assessment methods to students, teachers doubted more than ever before the objectivity of the obtained results of learning outcomes. For this reason, online exams were replaced by F2F knowledge testing as soon as circumstances allowed.

The results of this research further raised awareness of the need to introduce significant changes in the knowledge assessment processes. These changes should primarily begin by communicating the fundamental values of academic integrity, as well as by communicating the sanctions for their violation. In addition, the administration of TVZ, together with its teachers, should define procedures for when, to whom and how often they will conduct education on this topic, which will further try to reduce the frequency of any form of academic dishonesty.

The climate of academic honesty is extremely important for every educational institution, regardless of the model of implementation of the evaluation of learning outcomes, therefore potential solutions to combat academic dishonesty are an important topic of further research, especially now after the experience of online knowledge testing. Investigating this topic at TVZ, we just touched the tip of the iceberg.

Keywords:

Online teaching, objectivity of learning outcomes, Covid 19 pandemic, fair method of assessment.