Abstract:

An exam situation can be defined as “an on purpose created problem situation included in education” of which the student has to manage with her knowledge [1]. Consequently, electronic examining refers to an exam situation where the student produces her answer with a computer, and most typically also online via a network connection. When investigating on different electronic exam situations via temporal and spatial dimensions, there are four main types of electronic exams [2]:
1) when the time and place of the exam situation are defined by the organization, the electronic exams are either called computer classroom exams or Bring your own device (BYOD) exams.
2) If the time is restricted but not the place, the exams are online exams.
3) When the place is always the same but the students can select when to take the exam, the exams are called electronic exam room exams.
4) Finally, if the time and place are both free within a time period, then you can call the exams online exam periods – or not exams at all, but instead online assignments.

In Finland, most universities provide a variety of opportunities for electronic exams; mostly of types 1,3 and 4. This article focuses on type 3 electronic exams, i.e. exam taken in a specific exam room. The concept includes the exam system in which the teacher adds all the questions, after which the student can book a time for the exam in the calendar, also provided in the system. When the student enters the exam room, she can take the exam only on the specific computer at the specific time she has booked. The exam situation is recorded so that the teacher is able to watch the exam situation live or afterwards, if there is a reason to suspect cheating or other issues.

The concept of electronic exam room examining provides pedagogical added values for students [2] followed by the flexibility in time, and the opportunity to write the answer on a computer. This article, however, focuses on the pedagogical aspect of providing students with feedback on the exam answer. In traditional paper exams in Finnish Higher Education, the student writes the answer, returns the paper and receives the grade typically without meeting the teacher at all, and without receiving feedback except the grade in the Student Information System (SIS). One of the pedagogical goals in increasing electronic examining is to increase student feedback on exams. To find out, how the electronic exam room exams enhance providing feedback on the submissions, system log data was analyzed using both quantitative and qualitative methods, focusing on the given feedback. Additionally, teachers who have provided their exams in the electronic exam room have been interviewed to find out how the process has affected the interaction between the student and the teacher. The article will introduce the main findings on giving and given feedback. Additionally, the results will be discussed in the scope of educational development with technology.

References:
[1] Karjalainen, A. (2001). Tentin teoria (Examination theory). Academic dissertation. Publications of the Teaching Development Unit, Dialogies 3. Faculty of Education, University of Oulu. Finland.
[2] Rytkönen, A. & Myyry, L. (2014). Student experiences on taking electronic exams at the University of Helsinki. In Proceedings of World Conference on Educational Media and Technology 2014 (pp. 2114-2121). Association for the Advancement of Computing in Education (AACE).

Keywords:

Electronic examining, assessment, feedback.