What is it?
Final exams in STEM subjects are often completely written. However, such assessments do not always align with learning outcomes that involve higher-order skills such as experimental design. An oral exam gives students a chance to demonstrate their mastery of the material and a simulation of professional practice.
What are the benefits?
When faced with a new type of assessment, students will necessarily adapt their learning strategies. Implementation of an oral exam could cause students to spend more time studying or focus on explaining concepts to others. During the exam, students also receive immediate feedback, which helps them to refine their ideas.
Luckie et al. also found that students who participated in a verbal final for introductory biology scored higher on MCAT-style questions and earned higher grades in subsequent courses.
What are the challenges?
Time. Delivering and assessing oral exams takes more time than a traditional written exam.
Student anxiety. A one-on-one meeting with an instructor can cause anxiety in many students.
Fairness and integrity. If questions are not supplied ahead of time, students may communicate with each other about what questions are asked, giving the later students an advantage. If different students are given different questions, this raises a question about the reliability of the assessment.
Who’s using this?
Info about users (at KPU) of this technique. May include resources on a separate post, with more Pending… if you’ve used this technique and you’re willing to share thoughts about your and your students’ experience, send me an email!
Non-KPU examples
Engineering:
Students in second- and third-year engineering classes were given a 15-minute oral exam. Two types of oral exams were given. In the first, students were asked to elaborate on their problem-solving process for a question previously given on a written midterm or final exam. These exams were for extra credit. In the second, questions were not given ahead of time, and students needed to demonstrate an ability to “talk through the problem” posed by the examiner. These exams were part of the course grade. (Baghdadchi 2022)
Biochemistry:
Students in an upper-level, online biochemistry course were given an oral final exam by videoconference, lasting about 20 minutes on average. Students were evaluated both on the accuracy and the confidence of their responses to the examiner’s questions. Students were provided with an overview of the oral exam as well as the rubric for grading. (Kamber 2021)
Biology:
A optional pass/not-pass verbal final was given in a biology class. If the student passed the verbal final, they received a score of 100% for the written final. Students who do not pass can attempt the verbal final again; if they do not pass, they are then required to write the written final exam. Students stand at a whiteboard and are asked to illustrate biological processes on the whiteboard to explain how they work to an examiner. The examiner then asks questions for to clarify the student responses and to probe the student’s depth of knowledge. (Luckie 2013)
References
Baghdadchi, S., Phan, A., Sandoval, C., Qi, H., Lubarda, M., & Delson, N. (2022 August), Student perceptions of oral exams in undergraduate engineering classes and implications for effective oral exam design. Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. https://peer.asee.org/41123
Kamber, D. N. (2021). Personalized distance-learning experience through virtual oral examinations in an undergraduate biochemistry course. Journal of Chemical Education, 98(2), 395-399. https://doi.org/10.1021/acs.jchemed.0c01092. KPU Library Permalink.
Luckie D. B., Rivkin A. M., Aubry J. R., Marengo B. J., Creech L. R., Sweeder R. D. (2013). Verbal final exam in introductory biology yields gains in student content knowledge and longitudinal performance. CBE Life Sci Educ. 12(3), 515-29. DOI: 10.1187/cbe.12-04-0050.
