“A Danish university has adopted an unusual strategy to tackle cheating: allowing unfettered Internet access, even during examinations.”
Don’t be so horrified, it’s a PBL story, and on that basis it has merit.
One of the basic tenants of good/valid assessment is that the assessment task (and that includes exams – they’re assessment too) replicates as closely as possible to circumstances and context in which the assessable activity will take place.
In the wider world of business that we are preparing our students for, a boss doesn’t wander in and say, “study up, in 6 weeks I’ll have a problem for you”. No, he slaps an email on your desk and says, ” this is broken, fix it”. What is one of the primary sources of information people are likely to use? Well that would be the internet. If the question is about reflection, synthesis and analysis (not recall of facts) why not give them access.
Personally I think most third year exams should be PBL based, and if the question is thoughtfully written, internet access may well be appropriate. Of course the major limiting factor for us is the capacity of our IT infrastructure to handle our huge undergrad numbers.
As always the comments related to this article are interesting. I quite liked an idea from Frank Schimdt, Professor of Biochemistry at University of Missouri. The basic concept is worth considering.
“For many years I have given a standard, closed book, problem-solving exam in class on Friday. At the end of the hour, students take a clean copy of the exam which they turn in at the start of class on Monday, for half the points they missed. All sources are allowed. A bit more work (I have a class of 113 this semester) but it reinforces critical points, allows those who forget a key fact to find it, requires them to look things up in the literature, and promotes interaction among the students.
I am also told that the parties on Friday night after they get together to do the re-take are a lot of fun.”