ON ORAL EXAMSSusana Tosca (7/12/12)

Today´s menu• Introduction round• Presentation “On Oral Exams” • Questions & Answers• Video: an examination• Discussion groups & Plenum: what not to do• (Exercise: “Talking from experience”)

Tradition & History

Current praxis in Danmark

how do you think oral exams are different from written exams?

Benefits of oral assessment• Development of oral communication skills• More "authentic" assessment (i.e. relevant to real life

post-graduation)• More inclusive (e.g. for dyslexic students)• Gauging understanding and Encouraging critical thinking• Less potential for plagiarism• Better at conveying nuances of meaning• Easier to spot rote-learning

Based on Huxham, Campbell & Westwood. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education 37: 125-136 (february 2012)

Possible drawbacks• Takes a long time, impossible with large courses• Reliability and bias across groups• Anonymous marking is impossible• Stressful (for students)• Might favour extrovert and confident students• Not appropriate for abstract reasoning tasks

Based on Huxham, Campbell & Westwood. Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education 37: 125-136 (february 2012)

Kinds of oral exam at ITU• With or without preparation on the very day• With or without written work that has been turned in

previously (report, synopsis, essay...)• With or without a "production" that has been turned in

previously • Project and thesis exams

Will lend themselves to different kinds of questions (i.e. about a syllabus/about a thesis, about method...)

Preparing the exam• Alignment!• Choose exam form depending on goals• Check the very same goals when preparing the questions

for the exam, make sure you are covering everything• Orient the students conveniently about all the small details

(time for presentation/dialog/voting) it is VERY important for them!

• Orient the students about what is expected of them (i.e. in a presentation or if they get questions)

• Publish an exam schedule well before the exam day so students and examiners have a good overview

Some practical details• Time (for example for a thesis: 15´ presentation, 30´

dialogue + 15´ voting and feedback)• All exams are individual• Groups can do a joint presentation but then will be

examined individually (with the non-examined members out of the room)

• Exams are public (praxis different)• Grades according to the 7-point grading scale or pass/fail,

depending on course

The exam: what to ask• Identify • Define• Reflect • Compare theories• Apply a theory to an object of study• Find an example of what you are saying• Unpack a complex statement• Solve a problem• Comment on a method

Think of Blooms taxonomy: what kind of answers are you looking for in each moment? (i.e. using a theory vs breaking it

apart and offering an alternative)

The role of external examiners

• "Quality control" • Relation to syllabus• Fairness (both ways)• Time keeping• Final word in voting• Expert consulting function

The human factor• Use some time to chat with the external examiner and

agree on criteria beforehand• Don´t stress: make a reasonable time plan• Plan with some breaks between the students, so you can

catch up if delayed • Make the student comfortable, she is much more nervous

than you!• Give the student a chance to speak and be independent• Remember that it is more dialogue than inquisition• There is no obligation to give feedback at the end, but it is

good style, and some students even learn from it!