University exam on your own laptop  [27.02.23]

Writing programming code on a piece of paper? That feels kind of strange even in an exam - and can lead to mistakes. But there are good reasons for e-exams in other subjects as well: Less paper, faster correction and more diverse question types are just a few of them. The University of Hohenheim therefore not only wants to expand digital exams, but also raise them to a new level. In a pilot project, the first of its kind at a university in Baden-Württemberg, 40 students were now able to bring their own laptops for a computer-based exam for the first time.

An exam situation is always associated with a certain amount of tension. It is good to have a familiar tool to fall back on. The offer to use one's own laptop instead of a university device in an exam was therefore well received by many students.

In a subsequent survey, 95% of the participants stated that they would also use their laptop for further e-examinations and found the examination system easy to use. 90% reported that they were able to concentrate well on the exam. 85% experienced the exam as less stressful or equally stressful compared to a paper exam. No one experienced any technical problems.

Successful start for more

Within the framework of the PePP project ("Partnership for innovative e-examinations. Project network of the Baden-Württemberg universities "), Meyer accompanies the pilot project and offers advice for lecturers who want to implement similar exams themselves at the University of Hohenheim in the future.

"The successful and rapid implementation of the first 'Bring Your Own Device' exam was made possible by the decisive preparatory work and support of the Department of Communication, e-Learning and Print at KIM. The contact persons there are Christian Starke and Christine Berggold," Meyer emphasises.

In the summer semester, further examinations are to follow on from the pilot project, including a large course with around 450 participants. "Of course, the students should not feel like test subjects. That's why there is always a test exam beforehand, where everyone can familiarise themselves with the technology and the exam conditions," says Meyer.

Innovative exam for innovative teaching format

The first "Bring Your Own Device" exam took place as part of the "AI & Data Science Certificate Hohenheim" (AIDAHO) qualification program. It is open to all Hohenheim students and provides comprehensive additional qualifications in the fields of artificial intelligence and data science to accompany their studies.

"With AIDAHO, we make students fit for the digital working world and also rely on innovative formats in teaching. So what could be more natural than a digital examination format?" says Tobias Schrimpf, explaining the motivation of those responsible for the course. "The 'Bring Your Own Device' format allows us greater flexibility in planning, as we need fewer devices from the central loan pool. In our view, it is therefore also very suitable for larger courses."

E-exams offer great potential

Specifically, the examinees had to demonstrate basic knowledge in the programming languages Python, R and SQL. Within the framework of the e-exam, they brought given code blocks into the correct order via drag & drop or entered parts of programming commands themselves, which could be tested for errors during the exam.

A next development step would be that code is also executed and automatically evaluated. "We are not there yet, our team, especially my colleague Jan Dvorak, is currently working on a way to correct code automatically," adds Tobias Schrimpf from the AIDAHO project.

"The diverse design options are among the greatest advantages of e-exams," Silke Meyer from the PePP team also emphasises. "For example, videos, graphics, screenshots or podcast contributions can be included in exam questions without any problems."

But the work of the lecturers is also made easier. For example, through the automated evaluation of multiple choice questions or through the use of a random generator to generate different versions of an exam for all examinees. In this way, copying is made much more difficult and fewer seats have to be left empty between students in the lecture hall.

Background PePP

All universities in Baden-Württemberg have joined forces in the project network "Partnership for Innovative E-Examinations" (PePP). The project management is located at the University of Freiburg. Support is provided by the "Hochschulnetzwerk Digitalisierung der Lehre Baden-Württemberg, HND-BW " (University Network Digitisation of Teaching Baden-Württemberg) and the „Hochschuldidaktikzentrum Baden-Württemberg, HDZ“ (University Didactics Center Baden-Württemberg).

The aim of PePP is to transfer successful approaches to digital examinations that already exist across universities into permanent solutions. This is to be done with the help of so-called real labs, in which technical-didactic innovations are further developed and tested in real situations at several university locations in Baden-Württemberg. The experiences of these real labs will then lead to general recommendations and be made available to all stakeholders.

The project network is funded by the " Innovation in der Hochschullehre” (Innovation in Higher Education Teaching) Foundation.

Background AIDAHO

The qualification programme "AI & Data Science Certificate Hohenheim" (AIDAHO) offers students of all disciplines at the University of Hohenheim extensive additional training in the areas of artificial intelligence and data science. To this end, students take a total of five courses during the course of their studies and receive a certificate attesting to the courses they have completed and the skills they have acquired.

AIDAHO is funded by the federal-state initiative "Künstliche Intelligenz in der Hochschulbildung “ (Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education) with 1.4 million euros.

Text: Leonhardmair | Translation: International Office