In-person exam again

I hadn’t been involved in an in-person exam since the start of the pandemic. I can't say I am a huge fan of them but I acknowledge that they are a foolproof way of making sure the students aren't using generative AI.

In the long run, we will have to make sure all our assessments incorporate the use of AI. If the students have such powerful tools at their fingertips, surely we can ask complicated things from them. But these are not changes you make in a day. Firstly; we staff wouldn't be ready for that. It is a heck of a lot of work to make a new assessment! And if we would have to change every single one of them, that takes a lot of time. 

Secondly; the students wouldn’t be ready for it. I think we need to make sure we actually teach them to use AI well, before we expect them to use it extensively in their assignments. And as soon as we make them a bit of a challenge even with the use of AI, they would be way, way too much of a challenge now for students who aren't particularly good with the technology.

With these considerations, I took the decision of having my first year exam, which is an MCQ test, in person again. It is very difficult to come up with MCQ questions AI can't answer. And the policy of the school is that we can bring in in-person exams again, gradually. This year we can do them for the first year students. Next year, we can add the second year to that. We are aware that it might be a bit of a shock to students who haven't done an in-person exam in years, suddenly have to do one again. Our current freshers probably have done in-person A-levels. And if we get them used to it from the beginning, they'll be fine.

That is how I found myself in a lecture room on main campus to invigilate an exam. It felt rather old-fashioned! But it was ok. If the students were particularly stressed about it, it didn't show. They just did their thing. They had two hours to complete the exam; the first student left after 25 minutes, and the last one after one hour and 40 minutes. It looks like at least when it comes to time, it is perfectly feasible.

The exam

It will probably be done less well than last year, but I don't think that's a bad thing. That probably means that last year's cohort had used AI. This time we are actually testing the students on their own insight. Not their use of tools. And sometimes their insight is what you are after.

Next exam period, there will be more like this. Back to the previous century! While getting ready to make the jump to the post-AI world…