6 May 2020: Online exam challenges: migration or transformation?

Presenter: Stuart Allan, Heriot-Watt University UK.

Many institutions are making the move from pen-and-paper to online examinations, but there are relatively few critical accounts of what this change means for educational practice. This webinar presented research on the roles played by two main discourses in online exams practice in higher education: 'migration', whereby exam technologies are assumed to be neutral instruments; and 'transformation', whereby the essential qualities of technologies are seen to 'transform' or 'enhance' assessment. Drawing on semi-structured interviews with eight practitioners in Norway, The Netherlands, the UK and Ireland, the research findings provide evidence of the ways in which assessment practices are entangled with technologies, and caution against the reinscribing of essentialist or instrumentalist assumptions. As well as outlining possible future directions for practice and research in this area, the presenter reflected on how the research findings have informed his subsequent practice.

Further information:

• Slide Set: TA_webinar_6_may_2020_slides.pdf [4MB]
• Chat Log (as is): TA_webinar_6_may_2020_chat_log.txt
• Webinar presentation reference list (pdf)
• On LinkedIn: Stuart Allan
• On Twitter: StuartAllan as @OpenPlanStuart
• Journal paper: Allan, S. (2020). Migration and transformation: A sociomaterial analysis of practitioners’ experiences with online exams. Research in Learning Technology, 28. DOI:10.25304/rlt.v28.2279

Session Recording

Blackboard Collaborate archive version.

• View: Session recording in Blackboard Collaborate Ultra version (slide stream, text chat and audio).
• View: Session recording on Youtube (slide stream and audio).