What made you decide to implement online examinations?
The decision was based largely on the students’ opinions. We found that students really appreciate the opportunity to write their exams on their own computers. It helps them to better compile their answers and they feel they have more time, since they can write faster on a computer than by hand.
In the future, we hope to digitize the entire examination process, which is part of why we finally decided to implement digital exams at our faculty.
Madeleine Rietz
How has Digiexam been used within the Faculty of Law?
For the past three years, we’ve used Digiexam in all of our courses that have written examinations. Our course administrators put together the exams and almost all of our students choose to write them digitally. Since students use their personal laptops, we are not responsible for the set-up and functionality of the computers, giving us more time to focus on other responsibilities.
What was the response from students?
Today, almost every student chooses to use Digiexam rather than write the exam by hand. Many of today’s students are accustomed to taking lecture notes on computers as well as writing their essays on computers. It’s clear that students appreciate being able to write their exams digitally as well.
Something that students particularly like is the ability to edit without having to erase entire paragraphs and rewrite. Digiexam also gives them the opportunity to take assessments in the manner they’re most accustomed to and comfortable with. Now students rarely experience the time pressure they encountered before online exams were implemented.
What was the response from teachers?
Our teachers have been very pleased with online exams. One key reason is the time they are saving when reading student answers. We’ve also found that students are now submitting higher-quality exams due to the improved writing and editing process, which allows students to structure and revise their answers more easily as they type. Not a single teacher that tested digital assessments says they would go back to handwritten exams.
What advice would you give to others looking to transition to online examination?
Our best advice is – just do it! Digital examinations have tremendous benefits for both teachers and students.
We’re now meeting a student generation that is digitally native. They have grown up with computers in a completely different way than previous generations. Because of that, we feel that academia also needs to evolve, develop and endeavor to attract the new generation of younger students.
Madeleine Rietz
