STUDENT AND INSTRUCTOR EXPERIENCES WITH A COMPUTER-BASED TESTING FACILITY

In this work, we explore how a large-scale introduction of computer-based testing has impacted students and instructors. The College of Engineering at the University of Illinois has been operating a Computer-Based Testing Facility (CBTF) for four years now, and the CBTF has matured into a fixture of our College. In Fall 2017, the CBTF served 21 courses from seven different departments and over 6,000 unique students. Over 52,000 exams were proctored, including 3,500 final exams. This paper summarizes key findings from a collection of surveys completed by students and instructors. Most instructors report having positive experiences with the CBTF. A large majority report that, once the exam content is in place, they perceive reductions in the effort to run and grade exams and to handle exceptional situations. Instructors also like how the CBTF enables them to run small frequent tests, run second-chance exams, and test computational skills. The vast majority of the surveyed instructors plan to continue using the CBTF and think that it should be expanded. FIXME: Some highlights from our student surveys include: (1) students generally are more satisfied with CBTF exams relative to traditional paper exams (45% satisfied or very satisfied, vs. 17% dissatisfied or very dissatisfied), but this preference seems to vary by major, with computer science and electrical engineering majors even more strongly preferring the computerized exams, (2) students' favorite aspects of CBTF exams include the flexibility to schedule them at convenient times, that CBTF courses generally have more frequent, shorter tests, and the opportunities to take second chance exams, and (3) some students prefer the partial credit mechanism commonly used in traditional written exams, where credit is granted for work shown for incorrect answers.