Key findings from the German Bundesdekanekonferenz in Frankfurt 2022.

Context

UNIwise was invited to attend the German Bundesdekanekonferenz, which took place in June of this year. More than 70 representatives convened to discuss digital universities during a three-day conference at the Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences. The common understanding of institutions in attendance was that the pandemic has accelerated the German education sector’s move towards a digital society.  

One area where we have seen this is digital assessment, which was one of the central topics of the conference. While assessments have mostly been confined to pen and paper, some institutions have been conducting online examinations via learning management systems such as Moodle; however, these have mostly been formative quizzes and multiple-choice questions, suitable for low-stakes examinations. 

Divided approaches

During the conference it became clear that representatives from the German institutions were divided when it came to approaches going forward. Some institutions will be returning to on-campus activities, teaching in classrooms and optimising administration. Others, however, will be developing hybrid learning models and trying to transform operations. 

The common denominator across all of these institutions was an understanding that it is necessary to have a platform for handling assessment – be it on campus or remote (or both).  

There were further examples of how some institutions had taken on this task. The University of Bayreuth, for example, used digital assessment during the pandemic. The university needed to handle these processes using intricate workflows and features, such as advanced assessment formats, alongside faculty collaboration in creating and assessing. 

Challenges and solutions

Prof Dr Torsten Eymann, CIO, gave a presentation on the adoption of digital assessment at the University of Bayreuth. He stated that the University was faced with three main challenges during this process: 

Legality: Giving students two equal options to choose from – either sitting assessments on campus, or at home.  There could be no significant difference in terms of condition, GDPR or the possibility of cheating during exams. 

Didactics: Reformatting assessment as open-book exams, thereby aligning teaching activities with assessment formats. 

Technical: New technical solutions were required to ensure the competence of students and staff alike. 

 These challenges were solved for both the law and business programs.  Students could choose from either remote or on-campus assessment for the 20/21 academic year: 

 Figure 1: During the eight exam periods at University of Bayreuth in 2020/21, 8190 student chose digital assessments – 39.5% of all students. (Source: University of Bayreuth) 

 As shown in Figure 1, most students still prefer on-campus assessments, but the goal for Bayreuth was not a full online conversion for all assessments. Instead, it was ensuring all students had equal options. 

 As Prof Dr Torsten Eymann said: “The increased adoption of digital assessment has created a tendency to sometimes conflate it with remote proctoring. While remote proctoring is a key component of delivering examinations online and identity management, digital assessment addresses the very design and implementation of assessment itself. As such, digital assessment can be delivered remotely or in person and University of Bayreuth chose both, simultaneously.” 

Student survey results

These assessment periods were evaluated by the University, with a survey sent to students that had attended exams either in a remote environment or within the confines of the Bayreuth campus.  

Figure 2: The student evaluation of digital assessment. 242 student who sat examinations remotely noted that the top reason for this choice was that it was a more pleasant setting. Of the 359 students attending on campus examinations, 293 answered that the main reason for this choice was that they preferred pen and paper. Source: University of Bayreuth 

The conference also featured a panel discussion, to which UNIwise‘s Director of Development, Kurt Gammelgaard Nielsen, was invited. According to Kurt, the results from Bayreuth are also in accordance with a large-scale survey in Denmark, conducted in June 2020. The study comprises a student survey (n=20,195) and a teacher survey (n=2,955) from seven Danish institutions. (Georgsen & Qvortrup, 2021) 

This study is of particular relevance because across both Germany and Denmark, oral examinations have a good reputation and are widely embraced due to their ability to assess deeper knowledge, critical thinking and problem-solving skills. 

This study concluded that there was an overall satisfaction for both students and teachers with online oral examinations during Covid-19. This is true for technological, dialogical and preparational issues. To some extent, this contrasts with the general critique of emergency online teaching and learning we have seen in recent years (Georgsen & Qvortrup, 2021, p.10). In the study, students reported the greatest satisfaction with digital feedback from staff, as well as with group work. These didactical approaches share certain features with online oral examinations, such as a similar number of participants, a focused task and conversation, the same possibilities of digital sharing, and similar interfaces. 

Such didactic approaches to online environments are manageable and suitable for their intended purpose. Research indicated that prior experience with online oral examinations only played a minor role; this could be of special interest to leaders and decision-makers. If prior experience had been proven more important, some could claim that all we need is more practice. On the contrary, for both students and staff alike, online oral examinations are not just something to get used to, but something to learn from.  

As would be expected, there were some indirect indications that some co-examiners had difficulties. UNIwise continues to be focused on supporting co-examiners with workflows in WISEflow, allowing for offline and online grading.  

Recommendations for institutions

The Bundesdekanekonferenz was a great experience, and offered many interesting insights into the world of digital assessment. Following are some recommendations for institutions, based on discussions at the conference:  

• Conduct small pilots and lower-stakes examinations to sandbox new ideas and formats, leveraging digital assessment to find the right mix of digital-analogue and formative-summative. This will fuel desired instructional outcomes. 

• Improve the adoption rate by reviewing data storage, encryption and transmission policy, ensuring compliance with GDPR. UNIwise has finalised agreements with many higher education institutions – including numerous German institutions - and we fully understand different procedural and technical issues raised by DPO. 

• Choose a ‘best of breed’ product for your digital assessments, to ensure integration to your ecosystem.