Electronic Exams and Self-Assessments
The process of planning and conducting e-exams includes three stages which form a closed loop. The Department of University Didactics and eLearning is happy to provide comprehensive support in each of the three stages.
Challenge:
Preparing an e-exam requires extra time and effort, especially with no prior experience. Therefore, the eLearning team provides proactive support during the intials steps. In the long run, however, it is our goal to fine-tune all teaching staff to the didactic and technical requirements of electronic exams, empowering them to handle these requirements independently in the future.
Solution:
Before instructors start with the preparation process, the Department of University Didactics and eLearning offers tutorials on didactic and technical questions to prepare teachers for the specific requirements of electronic exams. In a first session, didactic and technical questions are elaborated, followed by an online session during which the participants create an e-exam independently based on the input gained from the first session. The eLearning team provides advice throughout the process. Finally, an individual feedback session is arranged with each participant to discuss all relevant didactic and technical aspects and, if necessary, to make improvements.
Challenge:
Technical problems during an e-exam have to be sorted out immediately. Personal support must be provided for user problems.
Solution:
A member of the Department of University Didactics and eLearning will be available during the exam to provide technical support, and to make adjustments in case of incorrect exam settings. However, the technical support does not subsitute the presence of a supervisor who is familiar with the subject of the exam. A list of all technical issues must be taken for each exam.
Challenge:
In the follow-up of an exam, some questions turn out to be problematic. Experience from students must be included for future exams.
Solution:
The item analysis plugin in ILIAS analyzes exam questions in terms of difficulty, selectivity and internal consistency. Problematic questions can be manually re-evaluated, even before exam results are announced, and/or modified for future exams, or they can be removed altogether from the list of exam questions.
In addition, we organize an anonymous exam evaluation in order to take into account the student's perspective in the development and quality assurance process.
Tools for Eletronic Exams and Self-Assessments
For conducting e-exams, Hochschule Geisenheim University uses the digital learning platform ILIAS. The platform offers a broad range of different question types:
| ‣ Single choice | ‣ Fill-in-the-blank | ‣ Arranging items (vertically and horizontally) |
| ‣ Multiple choice | ‣ Numeric questions | ‣ Pairing items |
| ‣ Kprim | ‣ Stack | ‣ Open questions |
| ‣ Select wrong items/words | ‣ Formula questions | ‣ Upload file |
| ‣ Hotspot/Imagemap | ‣ Finding the right term | ‣ Long menu |
As you can see from the long list of examples, online exams do not have to be pure multiple-choice tests. Thanks to the wide range of possibilities, you may also select different settings from summative exams and self-assessments or even automated feedback and quiz formats.
Options
Summative electronic exams are carried out exclusively on the university's premises and computers and with a supervisor present. In order to prevent cheating and to increase the flexibility of the exam setting, we use ILIAS combined with the Safe Exam Browser. A member of the e-learning team will be present throughout the entire exam to provide technical support.
ILIAS provides different settings for self-assessments (formative assessments), e.g. anonymous assessments or quizzes.
Contact
Map
