Tips: Oral exams online

Overview of advantages and disadvantages of oral exams online. And some strategies for good questions.

The university pedagogical center at Örebro university (Högskolepeadgogiskt centrum vid Örebro universitet) provides an overview of the advantages and disadvantages of doing oral exams online (Converting an examination in exam halls to a remote oral examination):

  • Advantages, e. g. opportunity to ask follow-up questions, encourages in-depth learning.
  • Disadvantages, e. g. takes more teacher time, more difficult to assess and grade.

Suggestion for strategies for the questions:

  • Design questions that are used for all students, but vary the question context.
  • It is entirely possible to let the students know the questions in advance, but that the context is given on the spot. Send out problems (Based on e. g. background in the form of an article, legal case, etc.) a while in advance and let the student present a solution orally.

The page also comments on how oral exams may be recodred at Örebro university. For the recording of an exam at KAU, special rules apply: See Cheating: Monitoring via Zoom?