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.dcall 2021: Digital testing - now more than ever but fairly

The topic of "digital testing" has been intensively discussed at universities since the beginning of the pandemic. But in which forms and under which legal and technical framework conditions can performance be tested and assessed at TU Wien? Two of our .dcall projects have dealt with this topic.

digital exams

Digital testing at universities has emerged as one of the greatest and most exciting challenges in recent years. Therefore, two projects on this topic with different objectives were also selected for implementation within the .dcall program. Due to the ongoing coordination between the two project teams, it was possible to define new paths for overlapping topics and to focus on the legal, technical and methodological possibilities and opportunities of digital testing:

"Digital Testing - a Framework for the TUW"
In the project "Digital Examination - a Framework for TUW" an entire process around an examination was mapped. This process includes the entire range of an exam, i.e. from possible preparatory tasks for practicing, to announcement, delivery, improvement and feedback, to statistical evaluation. The lecture hall infrastructure at the TU Wien for on-site examinations was evaluated and surveys on satisfaction and optimization potential were analyzed. Furthermore, the available support was evaluated and an optimization strategy was set up. The survey of all existing strategies for electronic feedback were collected and processed. As a result, a documentation and presentation on the research and measures were made available.

„e-xam“ – Online exam room as a necessity at the TUW”

In contrast to the project "Digital Examination", the project "e-xam" identified technical possibilities for digital examination scenarios. Best practices on "online - on-site - exams" at 70 universities were collected. The project team focused on the subject and content of the courses examined, the size and type of the exam, exam scenarios used, software and forms of proctoring used, any bring-your-own-device support, and general experience. The parameters determining the exam were identified using morphological analysis. Likewise, the interactions of the parameters were analyzed and visualized. As a result, online exam rooms were also designed for "bring your own device" for the TU Wien, under certain circumstances. The concept is now available as a recommendation for implementation with a corresponding technical architecture and a cost plan.