Making examinations more valid, meaningful and motivating: the online exams service at ETH Zurich

Abstract

This paper provides a comprehensive overview of the institution-wide online exams service at the Swiss Federal Institute ofTechnology (ETH) Zurich. It is intended for stakeholders in faculty, administration, IT, and didactic support units who wish topromote and implement a similar service at their own institutions. Based on pedagogical and psychometric considerations, a case is made for how online exam environments can help to improve the quality of examinations in higher education bymaking performance assessments more accurate and valid, as well as more motivating and meaningful to students.Throughout the subsequent outline of the online exams service at ETH, we focus on identifying the elements critical tofulfilling these aims. This includes a discussion of the organization, development, and operation of the service and thedidactic and technical support for examiners. We provide blueprints of our online exam setups, and demonstrate how evencomplex online exam environments incorporating a mix of applications, files and websites can be made secure. The paperfinishes with a discussion and an outlook regarding our current and planned service development projects.