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In our most recent "how can we help you?" thread, a reader asks:
I'm required to teach a remote asynchronous course this summer. Rather than pretending AI does not exist, I plan to conduct oral exams instead of written assignments (I can administer the exams synchronously). Does anyone have any suggestions about conducting oral exams? FWIW, the students who enroll in this course know it also satisfies a communication requirement.
Good question! Do any readers have any helpful tips to share?
Two main problems with oral exams: justifying the grades without a written product, and dealing with the fact that some students will take the exam after others, and so will benefit from knowing the questions.
1. Record the exams. That way if students are unhappy with their grade, you have something to point to, etc. Tell them (and do it!) that you’ll delete the recordings after the course is over. If they are unwilling to let you record, tell them they can’t appeal their grade, or tell them they must do some other assignment that is more onerous.
2. Consider having a large batch of potential questions from which you’ll “draw” a certain number at random to ask the students. This has the drawback that different students might get asked different questions, but can also deal with the problem that the students will (presumably) not all be taking their oral exams at the same time: students who take their exams later might be able to have the advantage of knowing what you’ll ask. Tell the students ahead of time that you’ll be doing this, and give them some sample questions, etc.
Alternatively: if you want to give them all the same questions, tell them what they are ahead of time, so that students who do the oral exam first aren’t at a disadvantage. (Naturally, you can make them harder if you do this).
Another option if you don’t want to record them: at the end of the oral exam, inform them which questions they could and could not answer, along with your expectations. This way, they should understand what grade you will give them. It will be obvious when they cannot answer a question, as there will be a long silence. If they are smooth talkers, you will need to clearly flag incorrect answers; otherwise, they may assume they did well.
I conduct oral exams quite frequently and provide students with a list of questions in advance. Typically, this list is quite extensive (45-55 questions), and students often discuss their answers in groups beforehand. I have administered oral exams to both individuals and groups; the latter option is particularly effective when time is limited.
I’ve administered oral exams to small classes (of about 20) and for larger classes have created an oral exam option (sometimes up to 1/3 opt for the oral exam instead of, e.g., a reading response).
I do it by posting a large pool of questions beforehand and structuring the questions so that they can be graded uniformly. A typical question might have two parts (e.g., What is so-and-so’s argument for X? Describe an objection to the argument. Do you think the argument succeeds in light of the objection? Why/why not? Or: Explain the difference between X and Y. Which do you favor? Why?). I’ll give up to 2 points for correctly explaining the argument/objection or the difference between X and Y with a partial credit option if they only understand X but not Y, etc., and then up to 1 point for giving a reasoned defense of the student’s own view (maybe you can stipulate that the reason given has to respond to so-and-so’s argument).
Sometimes I ask follow-up questions if I have a hard time assessing the student’s response. Sometimes students get anxious about one-on-one meetings and may underperform because they’re nervous. This makes me a little uneasy, but I do think that being able to think on your feet and demonstrate oral facility with abstract concepts is a valuable skill you should get good at by taking philosophy classes. For many students, it’s a joy to talk philosophy one-on-one, and I try to leave a little space for open-ended discussion if I can.
I don’t record the exams, but I tell my students right after the exam what their score is and explain it to them in person. I haven’t had students challenge their scores after this.
I do more of a hybrid… I give the questions I am going to draw from in advance, and have them submit their written answers in advance, so it is more of an “oral defense” than an “oral exam”, where I selectively pick from the answers they wrote. This simplifies my ‘grading’ task on the oral exam to simply determining whether either (a) the written work overrepresents their knowledge or abilities (typically due to AI use), so the oral exam becomes the basis of their grade instead; (b) the written work underrepresents their knowledge and abilities (due to rushing at the last minute, or unclear writing style), so the oral exam becomes the basis of their grade instead; (c) the written work accurately represents their knowledge and abilities.
I try to schedule them in 15 minute blocks. Most of the time, it takes less than 3-4 minutes of randomly asking the main questions and brief follow up questions to determine which of those categories they’re in. If they’re in (a) and (b), I then need the remaining time for further questions and follow ups to get an accurate grade. But if they’re in (c), and I’d say 80% of them are, the remaining time becomes a pleasant opportunity for philosophical conversation and oral interaction instead, and we end early.
I invite students who appear very nervous or very emotional within the first couple minutes to reschedule.
I have started recording these oral exams in the event of a grade appeal. But the hybrid format typically makes it easier to justify my evaluation by looking at the writing also.
I typically feel comfortable telling students in category (c) their grade immediately since I’ve graded the written portion in advance on a rubric. But for the others I usually wait until after the conversation, so I can write out my reasons clearly, and so the exam is clearly over, whereas giving a grade during the exam makes it look like it’s open to immediate appeal, dispute, etc.
I’m glad this question has been asked! For those of you who have conductedgroup oral exams, could you explain what you do?
Here are a few things I do that I think work well:
1. Have a question pool that you randomly draw from. I give the students the question pool in advance, then I randomly draw questions from it by rolling a die. I think this makes them prepare more than I have to grade.
2. Actively take notes during their answer. I write down the basics of what they say, and what is right and wrong.
3. Immediately provide grades and feedback. At the end of the oral exam, I immediately give students their grade and upload to the gradebook. In giving grades, I use the notes I took.
4. Record the oral exam for “cover your ass” reasons. I’ve never had a student contest a grade. But it’s always good to be prepared!
5. Scaffold oral exams with in class group work. This might not always be possible, but try to get students to talk to each other about course content with group work. Then the “low stakes” discussion of course material is with students in class, and the “high stakes” discussion of course material is with the instructor in the oral exam.
I will continue tweaking and modifying the formats of my oral exams. But I think these elements work well
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