From May 2020, DTU will use the same digital exam platform as most other Danish universities.
After more than 15 years of digital exams, DTU is now replacing its own platform with a shared exam platform used at most Danish universities. This gives both students and lecturers a new portal entrance when conducting exams.
The system called DE Digital Eksamen (DE Digital Exam) was developed jointly by Aarhus University, University of Copenhagen, Roskilde University, Aalborg University, and CBS in 2012. For the past two years, DTU has tested the system, and from May 2020 it will be rolled out to all courses using digital exams. In each term, a total of some 200 written digital exams are held.
“We have chosen to enter the community right now, as DE Digital Eksamen has reached a certain level of maturation after eight years of ongoing development,” says Christian Westrup Jensen, Project Manager at the Office for Study Programmes and Student Affairs (AUS).
“Our old platform is based on a technology that is becoming increasingly difficult to maintain. By transitioning to the new platform, we are future-proofing the system. At the same time, the lecturers will get a more logical system.”
Mandatory computer use
The new platform is a standard solution that will be tailored to best suit the needs of DTU. The platform includes a new multiple choice system that lecturers can choose to use as an exam form.
As something new, it will be mandatory for students to use a computer when sitting digital exams. Up until now, students have been able to submit their exam papers on paper. Now, however, DTU has been given the legal basis to require students to bring a computer and submit assignments digitally. There are certain exceptions, however. Lecturers can allow paper submission for courses that are not suitable for pure digital submission.
Paper can also be used to illustrate formulas and shapes which must be photographed or scanned so that they can be included in the digital answer.
Easy to download exam papers
One of the future users of the DE Digital Eksamen is Associate Professor Chris Valentin Nielsen from DTU Mechanical Engineering who teaches process technology and industrial forming of metals. Together with other colleagues, he has tested the written assignments in the new system in recent years. In his opinion, the main advantage for the lecturer is that the exam assignment only needs to be uploaded before the exam, as the exam date and time are entered correctly in advance.
“It’s also easy to download the exam papers after the exam. Here, however, there are some small things that can be improved, and we have been told that the system can be tailored to suit the needs of DTU. Final grading still takes place in the old system, so we don’t have any experience with this,” says Chris Valentin Nielsen.
Used to digital exams
While DE Digital Eksamen is new to many lecturers, the new system will probably not present as many challenges for students who are used to digital exams. One of the students who tested DE Digital Eksamen is Janus Walentin Jensen who is studying Mechanical Engineering and is chairman of the study programme’s student council:
“For students, there are no immediate advantages or disadvantages associated with the introduction of the system. Up until now, we have used DTU’s own digital exam platform. For students, transitioning to the new system simply means accessing a new exam website and a few additional clicks before the exam paper is submitted.”
All students will be informed about DE Digital Eksamen before their exam.