Making e-exams accessible

Student survey on online examinations at Bielefeld University

The student survey in the winter semester 2020/2021 showed that 64.5% of students were (very) satisfied with the organisation of the online examinations.

In 42.7% (N=2837) of the online exams, a test run took place prior to the online exam. 80.6% (N=2340) were (very) satisfied with the test runs. 73.7% (N=2837) of the students surveyed were provided with instructions or information material in the run-up to the online exams. And 85.7% (N=2749) found these (very) helpful. This presumably influenced the fact that the students felt (very) well prepared for the online examinations (69.1%, N=2194).

These results show that good preparation also makes sense for the technical conditions of an online exam.

Nevertheless, 34% of respondents experienced technical problems and 27.9% organisational problems (N=3154). For 58.2%, the technical problems could be solved during the examinations. However, among the students for whom the technical difficulties could not be solved or could only be partially solved, almost 20% had to cancel the online examination prematurely.

Furthermore, the students stated that the demands of the online examinations were higher (42%, N=1889) and the stress level was significantly higher than face-to-face examinations (44.2%, N=1889).

Technical problems in particular can occur unexpectedly and cause considerable stress. These should be responded to appropriately.

According to the survey, the most popular examination format is an online examination as an open book in the online examination system with 49.1% (N=3042). However, only 31.6% have taken these forms of examinations (N=3762). In the winter semester 2021/22, most of the students surveyed were (very) satisfied with open-book examinations with free editing (79.5%, N=836). In this survey, 46.6% would also like online examinations as open-book in the online examination system as a future examination format (N=1720).