Organizing Online Exams during the COVID-19 Pandemic

In this paper we deal with the problem of creating an online environment for taking written exams during the lockdown caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. We have taken an approach that combines Microsoft Teams and an e-learning system. Before the exam begins all students join a Microsoft Teams meeting together with the teachers. This provides a simple way for teachers to check and monitor students' activity during the exam. Also, any student can immediately contact the teachers if they encounter technical problems. Online exam is accessed through an e-learning system. In our e-learning system exam questions can be parameterized, so that each student gets different variants of questions of the same difficulty. Furthermore, the order of the questions is randomized, so that students get different permutations of the questions. In smaller courses this can ensure that each student takes a unique variant of the exam which can discourage and minimize cheating. To answer questions students must upload scans or photos of their handwritten solutions. After the written online exam is manually evaluated, students must also take an oral exam through a Microsoft Teams meeting with the teachers. The described online exam procedure was used on the course Fundamentals of electrical engineering in the Fall semester of 2020/2021.