Assessment methods at top 10 unis - movement away from traditional exams?

[Springflowers1]

Really interested in getting feedback and experiences on this for humanities/social sciences at top unis as DC2 is in yr12 and I think this is something we should be more aware of when evaluating options and comparing unis. For context DC1 is at Oxbridge doing an exam heavy essay subject with very little scope for coursework or other forms of assessment. First 2 years is all very stressful traditional exams and 3rd year is 3/4 traditional exams plus a dissertation or similar. Uni did do 5hr open book exams for a while after covid but reverted back to exam halls due to concerns about cutting and pasting of old essays and use of AI.

First time around I wasn't fully aware that so many other top unis now employed many diverse ways of assessing students and that often the majority of exams were open book eg 24hr ones?

Those of you with DC doing essay subjects at high ranking unis, how have they found these alternative modes of assessment, particularly 24hr open book exams? Does the removal of the need to memorise everything significantly reduce stress levels? It makes alot of sense to me - nothing in the world of work is about memorisation of vast amounts of information, but I know it's not straightforward because of issues with AI.

My DD did a humanities subject at the LSE and chose modules where she did not have to do any exams. In the 3 years she was only assessed by course work.

Honestly that’s ridiculous, how are our young people ever going to learn to perform under pressure? How are they ever going to learn common sense if they can constantly just ask google.
What on earth will happen if AI fails them!! Surely this is the beginning of the end of self worth and personal achievement and growth…..

My daughter is starting York in September - I think that’s all assesment, no exams

I wouldn’t rely on whatever assessment methods are in place now not changing by the end of the three years, given the impact of AI. Some courses I’m aware of are moving to oral assessments, others moving back to traditional exams.

@ProseccoPiewe live in a different world, the pressures of old are no longer relevant. I teach and GCSE English Lit is not fit for purpose - it's a memory test. Only those with decent memories can do well - even if some kids can write amazing essays.
We have information at our fingertips and education at all levels should change to reflect this.
DS only did one exam throughout his degree (RG University) and has had none for his masters.
The world needs to evolve from a memory test and teach students to be fit for a different world.

Exams don’t need to be a memory test, this is a failure of the way literature is taught and examined at school.

Thanks all. I've just looked at the modules for the course my DC2 is interested in at Durham. It is mostly 50% coursework essay and 50`% unseen 24hr exam which they say should take about 2hrs. I have no idea how they deal with the AI issue and can see that is a huge problem going forward, but I also think that assessment at uni level should be about understanding and critical thinking rather than memory under punitive timed conditions (DC1 has to do 3 essays in 3 hours). The cynical side of me wonders though if this development post covid is allowing significant cost cutting compared with the cost and difficulty of administering in person closed book exams?

Yes this is entirely standard in humanities and increasing moves in soc sci, I would say. I am an academic at a quite traditional RG and we are moving to cut exams significantly across all subjects.

@Springflowers1 for us, it is that exams are not always the best way to test subject knowledge, but also, that so many students have reasonable adjustments that it can make it difficult to administer exams. For example, people need a quiet room or solo space, and this pressurizes room capacity or invigilation capacity.

Plus, we are looking to teach students transferable skills, including using AI, and this means in many cases doing other kinds of assessments. Where I work, people are exploring things like using 2 AIs to produce a coursework output and then writing a reflection or having a viva as to which one was better for the course material, and why.

We are not getting rid of exams but we are cutting them.

I’m a medic in A and E …… I need quick thinking on the spot decision making. God help us all !!

I have two children in their final years at Durham and Manchester both doing essay subjects (social sciences).

Durham 1 x 24hr exam in year 2 rest of assessment is summatives (I think there was one group project.
Year 3 - dissertation, 2 x 24 hr exams (both the only assessment for 10 credit modules and the rest summarises.

Manchester - year 2 mix of essays and remote exams ranging from 6 - 24 hours
year 3 - dissertation - 1 possibly 2 remote exams at end of semester 1, semester 24 all essays.

Oh and sorry, also saw your point about post Covid - no, this trend started way before then. I previously worked at a post 92 and they massively cut back exams in about ?2014 sort of time.

By the time I got my differential diagnosis from AI you’d be dead!!

@ProseccoPie if you are a medic I am sure you are aware that medical degrees are subject to specific regulation so my general points above do not apply.

thanks @JohnnyMcGrathSaysFuckOff , so are you saying that this removes the need for reasonable adjustments eg extra time completely ?

Are Oxford and Cambridge the only ones continuing with in person exams?

Surely you recognise that not all professional jobs need that though?

Yes of course.
I guess I’m just sad that memory and common sense are being eroded

It depends on the subject - things like maths, engineering and some science modules (and of course medicine) and some law have in person exams at my children’s unis - they both have friends with quite heavy in person exam schedules.

Oh no definitely not! Just, a lot fewer.

Various universities are doing assessmemt re-sets atm to my knowledge, I know of 2 RG doing it now.

It doesn't remove the need for RAs but it makes them much simpler to administer and generally less stressful for the students.

It is controversial at our place as many old skool colleagues are against the move away from exams, esp in hard sciences.

But it's a definite trend.

I answered in the post above, as we cross posted. I agree, I also agree that the world is changing. But I’m not sure we as humans are being challenged and expanded enough anymore, as we are relying on AI……..maybe I’m getting old, I don’t have grand children yet……. My children are in/ finishing uni…… but the future……. It’s interesting

An open book exam is much closer to most people’s every day life - at work you have deadlines, often very tight ones, but you are still allowed to use Google or books.

The biggest change in assessments going forward is going to be how unis address AI.

At the moment a lot of them have their heads in the sand. I know of at least one very prestigious university that accepts students are using AI to varying degrees on traditional essays/coursework but they are still marking them to the same old rubric, even though they can see the standard has been transformed . They don’t feel comfortable putting student work through AI checkers without explicit student consent, worry about GDPR and copyright and the reliability of off the shelf AI checkers and they haven’t got the funding to develop their own bespoke walled gardens.

More in person exams is one possible solution. But more AI inclusive work is another (not just declaring AI use but tasks set to include devising AI prompts and refinement.)

One of my DC in stem has been moved back to all in person exams this year, having had mainly 24 hr open book exams in 1st year. So I think it’s possible that some humanities may change too - although other PPs seem to think this is unlikely.

Most internship/graduate job applications seem to include some time pressured, or at least timed tests, so I do think it is useful to keep up those skills.

On dd’s Economics course most modules are now assessed by examinations rather than coursework which suits dd who is very good at exams .
She has only one assessed piece of work and also opted to do an extra exam rather than an actual dissertation

With friends and family’s kids at top 10 universities for their subject, we’ve been talking about this a lot.

Cambridge, Oxford, Durham and Warwick seem to be the consistent ones with exams in person. Sometimes it’s a mix for more essay based assessment but always in person for sciences, maths and so on.

In other universities, it’s almost entirely remote exams including for STEM. As these are hard to do online because of drawings and method workings, some are even multi-choice.

I can’t see how a multi-choice exam in chemistry works but there you go.

I teach at such a university and we have changed all our assessments back to in person closed book exams within the last 18m, due to AI. That included changing the assessment mode for students already on course.