Assessment challenge: How to get around the “cheat factor” for online exams

Rita and her colleagues were concerned about the use of online exams, and worried specifically about academic integrity issues. Therefore, Rita wanted to create an effective way to test student learning through a final assessment. Having heard about the possibility of “the verbal exam” from Sally Vinden’s series for Trades instructors, “The Digital Toolshed”, she decided to restructure her exam.

Solution: Use verbal exams and a dialogical approach to online testing
Rita has prepared a series of questions for the final, and has given her students all of the questions. They need to prepare answers to all nine questions because at the exam they will have to answer one question from each topic. Students can use notes to answer their questions, but they lose marks if they do too much reading or if they refer too often to their notes. The exam is more of a conversation than a monologue. Rita asks the questions but will prompt them if there are steps, indicated in the question, that they are missing.