First e-exams within the project "bwEKlausuren"

Within the cooperation project "bwEKlausuren" on the basis of bwComputer labs, first e-examinations took place in January in Freiburg's IT Services Building. Existing computers were automated to provide an examination environment.

The first pilot examination took place on 25 January 2016. This examination was on the subject of physical education and took place on a single examination server. Questions featured videos and images, which means that many advantages of e-examinations were used. In order to avoid students copying from each other, barriers to visibility had been installed beforehand. Additionally, questions were posed in random order. A further language test was conducted in English Studies in the video conference room of the IT Services Building. Due to the small number of participants (6 or 7 per run), the room was equipped with laptops booted in bwComputer lab mode.

A further test-run took place at the end of February. The exam was on statistics in biometrics and on environmental system analysis. It took place as a "VM exam" within the computer labs of the faculty of environment and natural resources. These examinations used authentic tools from the respective subject fields. This approach offers new opportunities for assessing students. In this particular case, the examination server was equipped with the software "RStudio".

All three exam scenarios were successful. The first two showed that an electronic exam can be conducted even at full use of capacity. Additionally, they showed that mobile laptop use can successfully take place via a functioning network point.

For a detailed report, see our blog ("Impulswerkstatt Lehrqualität"). If you are interested in conducting e-examinations, please contact us (bwEKlausuren-Projektteam).