Unique Exams

Abstract

During the COVID-19 pandemic, many educators have had to rethink their methodology for summative assessment. Are timed and proctored exams appropriate---or even feasible---in this new open-internet, online learning environment? In this experience paper, we discuss our unique exams framework: our tool for generating exams that are uniquely identifiable but conceptually identical. In our university-level Probability for Computer Scientists Course, students completed unique exams generated from a common exam skeleton, with unique numeric variations per problem. With few deviations from the creation, administration, and grading processes of a traditional exam, our framework can provide a layer of security for both students and instructors about exam reliability for any classroom environment---in-person or online. In addition to sharing our experience designing unique exams, in this paper we also present a simple end-to-end tool and example question templates for different CS subjects that other instructors can adapt to their own courses.