Online Examinations: Case Study
Michael Adams, Faculty of Law
Business, Law and Ethics provides the foundation for all law subjects in the Bachelor of Business. It tries to achieve an appropriate blend of law and ethics for the 80% of business students who will need to understand the underlying legal issues of being in business in Australia. For the 1,300 students who study the subject each year this may be the only law subject they study and as a result their only chance to receive information on legal compliance and professional responsibility.
The ethics component of the subject allows a broader look at contexts of social responsibility than a straight legal subject. This lends itself to a case study approach and the tutorials are based around case studies that identify business problems, explain legal issues and demonstrate how students can support it with evidence. The evidence for these legal issues is case law and legislation which is addressed in a two hour lecture each week. The lectures presents a skeleton of the legal argument around which the students are expected to apply their knowledge and skills in legal problem solving. Each problem has a set structure that the students need to know.
The subject has a mid-semester examination to test that the students have a sufficient understanding of the case law to operate in the Australian regulatory environment. The mid-semester examination is worth 20% of the total assessment and deals with the material taught in the first 6 lectures. The examination takes place on UTSOnline which is also used for subject announcements, any online discussion about the subject and the distribution of resource materials. Prior to the examination practice questions are made available on UTSOnline for the students to become familiar with the assessment tool and the format of the questions.
Each student who sits the examination undertakes a different set of multiple-choice questions. The exam takes the questions from pools that have been re-written to change them into unique questions. The four of five topics covered in the exam each have their own pool that generates a unique combination of questions for every student. The subject does not have an extensive database of questions, just enough so that each students gets a unique exam. The students do not receive any feedback other than their mark but they are able to access their results immediately through UTSOnline.
The students can do the examination at any time between 9.00 am on the Monday until 6.00 pm Friday on the week of the exam. Students have 25 minutes to complete all 40 questions with each question worth half a mark. There is no negative marking. A timer on the screen helps the students monitor their time. They are warned when they have only one minute to go. The students then need to submit their answers within in this final minute.
Students are given two attempts at the mid-semester examination. There are two examinations scheduled over a two week period and students are allowed to have a second attempt in the following week. This allays any fears that there is a drop out or other technological problem. The best result of the students two attempts is used for the final assessment.