Comparing Open-Book and Closed-Book Examinations

Durning, Steven J.; Dong, Ting; Ratcliffe, Temple; Schuwirth, Lambertus; Artino, Anthony R.; Boulet, John R.; Eva, Kevin W.

doi:10.1097/acm.0000000000000977

Cited by 109 publications

(174 citation statements)

References 1 publication

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“…were not able to conclude that ICEs should be the preferred examination method in health care professions [18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Take-Home Exams in Higher Education: A Systematic Review

Bengtsson

2019

Education Sciences

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This work describes a systematic review of the research on take-home exams in tertiary education. It was found that there is some disagreement in the community about the virtues of take-home exams but also a lot of agreement. It is concluded that take-home exams may be the preferred choice of assessment method on the higher taxonomy levels because they promote higher-order thinking skills and allow time for reflection. They are also more consonant with constructive alignment theories and turn the assessment into a learning activity. Due to the obvious risk of unethical student behavior, take-home exams are not recommended on the lowest taxonomy level. It is concluded that there is still a lot of research missing concerning take-home exams in higher education and some of this research may be urgent due to the emergence of massive online open courses (MOOCs) and online universities where non-proctored exams prevail.

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“…were not able to conclude that ICEs should be the preferred examination method in health care professions [18].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 93%

Take-Home Exams in Higher Education: A Systematic Review

Bengtsson

2019

Education Sciences

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“…Part of the explanation for the reduction in anxiety could be that OBA tends to lead to less cramming by students and subsequently to a more consistent learning environment (Green, Ferrante and Heppard 2016). Durning et al (2016) are however of the opinion that students may overestimate the reduction in anxiety. An expectation that lecturers will choose more difficult questions can increase anxiety in an OBA setting (Eilertsen and Valdermo 2000).…”

Section: Anxietymentioning

confidence: 98%

“…The literature study is presented under the headings of time, anxiety, examination performance and differences among courses and subjects. Having performed an extensive systematic literature review on peer-reviewed articles published up to 2014, Durning et al (2016) concluded that empirical literature comparing OBA to CBA in general is fairly limited.…”

Section: Literature Studymentioning

confidence: 99%

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Accountancy students’ and lecturers’ perceptions of the effect of open-book assessments on writing examinations

Kruger

2020

SAJHE

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Open-book assessment (OBA) can contribute to the development of competency in handling large amounts of information in the knowledge economy. This is one of the reasons why the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants (SAICA) implemented OBA for its Initial Test of Competence. This empirical study investigated final year accountancy students' and lecturers' perceptions of the effect on writing examinations after their method of assessment changed from a closed-book (CBA) to an open-book assessment format. Students and lecturers perceived a change in writing behaviour, reduced anxiety, and improved performance. On some aspects the level of agreement between students and lecturers differed significantly. There is also evidence that black students perceived OBA to be less beneficial compared to the perceptions of white students. For subjects for which substantial texts were available, students perceived the least change happened for Auditing while lecturers perceived the least change for Financial Accounting. Both students and lecturers perceived the most change happened for Taxation. It is important that lecturers at departments of accountancy take cognisance of these perception gaps and to adjust their teaching to enable their students to utilise their texts as an additional resource optimally. This study is also of value to the regulatory bodies to evaluate their assessment practises.

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“…Following an extensive systematic review, Durning et al (2016) concluded that empirical literature comparing OBA to CBA is fairly limited. Only a few studies comparing OBA to CBA in accounting education could be found.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Students’ and lecturers’ perceptions of the effect of open-book examinations on teaching and assessment at departments of accountancy at South African universities

Kruger

2018

SAJHE

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Strong arguments are put forward in literature that teaching methods should be aligned with assessment practices in order to optimise the teaching-learning environment. When the South African Institute of Chartered Accountants changed its initial test of competence examination (ITC) from a closed-book to an open-book format, accredited universities changed their assessment accordingly. This article investigates how students and lecturers perceive the changes made to teaching and assessment after the introduction of open-book assessment. A survey was performed among prospective chartered accountants preparing for the ITC. These students were mostly assessed through closed-book examinations in their graduate studies, but were assessed using open-book examinations in their final year. The views of students and lecturers in certain universities' departments of accountancy were compared. The views of students and lecturers differed significantly on the extent of changes which were made to teaching practices and the setting of examination papers. The article identified aspects to be considered to encourage students' deep learning, long term retention, selection of knowledge and preparation for openbook assessment. Issues lecturers need to take into account when determining their teaching and assessment approach within the broader context of an open-book assessment environment were also identified.

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Comparing Open-Book and Closed-Book Examinations

Cited by 109 publications

References 1 publication

Take-Home Exams in Higher Education: A Systematic Review

Take-Home Exams in Higher Education: A Systematic Review

Accountancy students’ and lecturers’ perceptions of the effect of open-book assessments on writing examinations

Students’ and lecturers’ perceptions of the effect of open-book examinations on teaching and assessment at departments of accountancy at South African universities

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