SDU Universitetspædagogik

Acceptance

The type of exam must have general support among the wide circle of stakeholders, i.e. students, teachers, administrators, external examiners and employers. Are these stakeholders confident that this type of exam is capable of testing this precise academic element as well as the population being tested?

Particularly when converting traditional types of exams to newer – and possibly more relevant – types, problems will arise in relation to the acceptability of the type of exam.

Acceptability should not dictate whether a new type of exam can be introduced, but due consideration should be given to intensive follow-up with pilot schemes, pooling experience and practical examples when introducing a new type of exam that the majority of players do not have confidence in as a feasible exam type.

ASSESSMENT METHODS	ACCEPTANCE
MCQ and similar tests	Regarded as a non-academic, simplified form of testing.
Written invigilated exam without aids	Many regard this as being rather out of date.
Written invigilated exam with aids	Some regard this as an authentic type of exam, but it can also come across as rather old fashioned.
Written paper	Regarded as an authentic type of exam.
Portfolio	In many cases, this type of exam provides more information to potential employers than an exam mark.
Logs	Acceptance requires patience, coaching and illustrative examples.
Internship report	Widespread acceptance of the assignment as the best possible documentation of the learning outcome from the placement.
Oral exam/Viva without preparation	Many students find this type of exam stressful.
Oral exam/Viva with preparation without aids	Often rejected due to low reliability and high costs.
Oral exam/Viva with preparation and aids	Some regard this as an authentic type of exam, but is can also come across as rather old fashioned.
Student presentations	Not generally accepted as the only way to assess the student’s abilities in a given subject.
Objective structured clinical exam	Broadly accepted on health sciences study programmes.
Practical test	Widespread acceptance of testing practical abilities in a practical way.
Active participation	Regarded by many students as a “sit-it-out” course. However, this type of exam also makes it possible to experiment with different learning activities.
Oral presentation based on synopsis	Widespread acceptance of testing practical abilities in a practical way.
Written paper with oral defence	Regarded as an authentic type of exam. The oral exam is regarded as a fair feedback situation.
Portfolio and oral exam	In many cases, this type of exam provides more information to potential employers than an exam mark.
Project exam	Regarded as an authentic type of exam. The oral part is regarded as a fair feedback situation.

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