Converting an examination in exam halls to a remote oral examination

The prerequisites for the oral examination, whether it is conducted in groups or individually, is that it takes place at different times for different students. As a teacher, you are therefore required to prepare different but equivalent questions for each examination session. Questions that are appropriate for oral examination are those that are more analytical in character, requiring students to elaborate their reasoning. To facilitate the design of varied yet equivalent questions, there are different approaches. Here are a few examples of how an oral examination can be organised:

• Prepare questions that are used at all examination sessions, but that are set in different contexts for different students. To make sure conditions are the same for all students, it may be a good idea to make the questions known to the students beforehand, while saving the context details to the actual examination session.
• About an hour before the examination, send out a problem together with, for instance, an article or a patient or court case, and then have the students present their solutions during the examination session.

An advantage with oral examinations is that you have the opportunity to ask follow-up questions to students who may not elaborate their reasoning to a great extent. For students who may struggle to develop their thoughts on their own, this could give them the chance to demonstrate what they know with the support of your questions. This opportunity means, however, that you have a great responsibility in asking questions that open up for elaborate discussion, without leading students to the correct answer.

In other words, oral examinations offer great pedagogic opportunities, but they also bring a few challenges that, above all, concern legal security in assessment and the need for more teacher resources. When it comes to the need for more teacher resources, there are different approaches you can take. Is it possible to conduct the examination as a group exam to reduce the number of sessions required? With oral group examinations, particular attention must also be paid to documentation, which will facilitate assessment. Moreover, the examination must be planned in such a way that it gives each student equal scope for speaking and reflection. Would you consider moving teacher resources intended for assessment and feedback in connection with an examination in exam halls to the actual execution of the oral examination?

Another challenge when conducting oral examinations is the legal security in the assessment. It requires you to use a well-considered form of documentation for the examination. In their report on fair examinations, Rättssäker examination (2020), the Swedish Higher Education Authority (UKÄ) particularly points to this challenge, emphasising the importance of clear grading criteria. As with all examination, grading criteria must be known to the students in advance. One way of considering the legal security during oral examinations is to plan, in advance, how documentation and assessment is to be done. Is it possible to assign two teachers to the examination session? Then the advantage is that one of the teachers can focus on the execution and one on documenting the outcome. A drawback with having two teachers present at an individual oral examination is that the student may feel outnumbered and at a disadvantage. It may therefore be a good idea if you explain the different roles of the teachers during the examination.

When the oral examination is conducted using a tool for digital meetings, it is possible to record it, thereby securing adequate documentation for assessment and a possible review of the grading decision. A pedagogic challenge when recording is whether the recording of audio or both audio and video during an oral examination hampers the students’ way of expressing themselves. Does the recording have a negative impact on them? Does the recording need to have both audio and video? Also note that there are regulations that govern the possibilities for recording oral examinations. 

Tips for choosing digital tools

• You can set up an oral examination, individually or in groups, as a digital meeting using audio and video in Zoom  or Blackboard Collaborate. These tools also enable you to divide students into smaller groups and digital group rooms, so-called break-out rooms. See instructions on how to create digital group rooms in Zoom and break-out rooms in Blackboard Collaborate (The page starts automatically in Swedish, but English can be selected on the page).