Generative language models such as ChatGPT have created challenges for universities and colleges, especially when it comes to home exams. The central challenge is how to set a grade that reflects the student’s competence. Effective use of questions means that language models can create a good outline and often a relatively good text that the students themselves work on a little further to get good grades. At the University of Oslo, many home exams have therefore been changed to school exams, and it has been announced that the capacity in the exam rooms will be increased. But many are skeptical about increased use of school exams. Some formulate it as a step backwards to go back to exams “with pen and paper”, or that school exams without aids are old-fashioned and outdated. Another argument is that school exams are a passive approach to the opportunities that artificial intelligence can bring to higher education. More far-reaching views are even that school examinations are unethical and indefensible educational practice. This criticism of school exams is out of date. When people refer to the school exam as if it takes place with pen and paper, it has not been taken into account that we at the universities have had digital school exams for several years. This is not just about the keyboard eliminating the problem of sometimes incomprehensible handwriting. The strength of the modern school examination lies in the ability to carry out a wide range of tests in a controlled environment. It is easy to include images, sound and video in the task text, and the functionality for multiple-choice tasks is good. You can use the same software for the exam as you use in the teaching. One can, for example, easily set up tasks that test the ability to pre-process data, carry out the correct statistical analysis of the data set, as well as present and interpret the results. Students can gain access to relevant aids on a school exam. Bringing syllabus books has also been used in the past, but now, if necessary, digital syllabus texts or other sources can be added to the assignment set. More importantly, you can provide open access to the internet or only specific pages. Students can even have the opportunity to actively use language models to work with exam text, if they so wish. The school examination’s great strength is that it gives students the opportunity to assess a wide range of knowledge, skills and abilities in a controlled environment. School exams involve stress. The ability to handle some stress is a skill that is also relevant in working life. But for some, the exam nerves are such that it ruins their performance. It is then important that we have arrangements in place to reduce such problems. Something can certainly be done by a subject teacher, but arrangements for facilitation can be just as important. We do not know how big a challenge this is, but the pedagogical challenge in designing school exams should probably have been a higher priority. School exams ensure equal treatment and reduce the opportunities for cheating. In school exams, everyone performs fairly equally in the actual exam situation. It does not distinguish between students’ living situation. There is no difference to what extent you can discuss the assignment with your academic parents or friends. No one is allowed to shorten the actual exam time due to caring duties or other responsibilities for others. And those who need extra accommodation can get it. It is obvious that the opportunities for cheating were greater on home exams than school exams even before the language models came along. Less recognized is that our cheating case management is basically fallible, and systems for plagiarism control will also direct suspicion towards students who have not cheated. We know that such mistakes can happen. School exams reduce the risk of this, as well as of cheating. We need an educational investment in school examinations. There are great opportunities to adapt the tasks to the learning outcome targets of the subject within the framework of the school examination, particularly with the use of digital tools, including third-party software and online aids. School exams are sometimes accused of being old-fashioned and tied up in habits and traditional thinking. But it is rather the criticism of school exams that lingers in earlier times. In 2023, school exams do not have to represent a passive attitude to artificial intelligence. Nor does it take place with pen and paper in closed rooms without aids, as critics often claim. Language models and artificial intelligence make it even more relevant with an educational focus on the possibilities within the framework of school exams. These are significant and can be developed further. We must focus on that. School exams are pedagogically undervalued.
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School exams are underrated – Statement
