Twelfth International Conference on e-Learning & Innovative Pedagogies

Abstract

The development online e-Exam technologies that focus on “authentic assessment” in Australia (Fluck & Hillier, 2016), Austria (Frankl, Schartner, & Jost, 2017), Finland via their Matriculation Examination Board (Vikberg, 2018) presents an opportunity to unlock the last bastion on pen-on-paper - the exam room - for reform to include twenty first century skills and capabilities. These technology approaches enables rich, constructed assessment tasks by providing authentic “e-tools of the trade” software applications and a secure, consistent operating system on each student’s BYO laptop. The technology works alongside a learning management system or quiz module to provide an electronic workflow for assessments. The Australian implementation (Hillier, Grant & Coleman, 2018; Fluck, Pullen, & Harper, 2009, transformingexams.com) is also capable of working without a network for most (or all) of the exam session and that ensures exam continuity. In this paper we will examine the Australian “Robust e-Exams” approach that will include hands-on with a selection of authentic task examples and discussion of the practicalities associated with running e-exams in-class and in exam halls. Findings from an Australian case will be presented following live trials in 2018 of robust online exams in units (subjects) where students undertook a sequence of practice, mid term and a final examinations using the platform. In this case a Moodle quiz, additional software applications and audio files were utilised as part of the exams. Student feedback on their experience was collected using pre and post surveys covering a range of issues related to technology acceptance.