Since 2015, Gothenburg University and Inspera have successfully digitised exams across the many disciplines that the university has on offer. By autumn 2019, Gothenburg expects to digitise 65% of all exams.

Digital exams at the University of Gothenburg

Getting to know the University of Gothenburg

The University of Gothenburg is one of the largest universities in Sweden, and is home to almost 40,000 student. The university offers degrees in a wide range of disciplines, attracting students from all over the world. Their offering includes Creative Arts, Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, Humanities, Education, Information Technology, Business, Economics and Law, and Health Sciences.

Why digital examinations at University of Gothenburg?

The University of Gothenburg was the early adopter of e-assessment for Higher Education in Sweden. The digitisation journey started already in 2014. The initial aim was to increase the use of digital tools in their teaching and learning processes, and to secure a solution that would integrate all the assessment phases from the planning to the grading and feedback phase.

Linda Jerdenius, the System Administrator at the University of Gothenburg, explains that one of their principal goals was to reduce the time spend on exam workflows. They also wanted to enable academics to grade anywhere and at any time. Moreover, the university had a keen interest in improving student’s examination experience, by allowing them to take their exams on their own devices.

The University of Gothenburg sought a solution that did not require large investments at the piloting stage, and that would avoid the need to make use of exam lab computers. Consequently, the university was looking for a platform with a robust Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) solution. After thoroughly testing the different solutions offered by the 5 vendors in a public tender launched in autumn 2015, they decided that Inspera Assessment best suited their needs.

The University of Gothenburg was looking for a system with a robust bring your own device solution.

First steps with Inspera Assessment

The University of Gothenburg began to pilot Inspera Assessment in 2015. The university assigned a specific room for online exams, and installed extra Wi-Fi access points in the room as well as power sockets for each table. Spare computers for students who were unable to bring their own device, were also provided.

Before the first actual exam, Linda and her team set up mock exams and demo sessions in allow students to familiarise themselves with Inspera Assessment.

Importantly, they experienced that Inspera’s BYOD approach proved robust to cheating, offering the same degree of security as an exam taken at a university computer. The only problem Linda and her team experienced was that students would sometimes bring very old and slow computers.

Inspera’s BYOD solution proved robust against cheating, offering the same degree of security as an exam taken at a university computer.

A bottom-up approach

Gothenburg University chose a bottom-up approach to adopting e-assessment: it is completely voluntary for academic staff. Once the dates of the exams are set, the educators indicate whether they want the exam to be carried out online. If the educator decides to arrange an online examination, she is offered a training session on how to make the best use of Inspera Assessment for the course and examination purposes.

Since the implementation of Inspera Assessment in 2015, there has been a noticeable increase in the university’s rate of pre-booked digital exams. Linda and her team expect to reach approximately 14,000 digital exams by the end of 2018, which would represent 43% of the total number of exams taken during this year.

University of Gothenburg’s new targets

Three years into the implementation, Linda Jerdenius is happy with the process and its outcomes: “ The project has been met with positive uptake by all staff groups, and students are overwhelmingly satisfied”.

The University of Gothenburg has now decided that from 2019 online examinations will be the norm. In 2019, the university will focus on digitising their science exams, and on using the Inspera Assessment platform for course works, for example through the virtual learning environment Canvas.

Linda and her team add that “at the current pace, it could be possible to digitise the 70-75% of all submissions by next autumn and about 65% of all exams.”

The University of Gothenburg has submitted more than 14,000 digital exams in 2018 and by autumn 2019, 65% of all exams will be digitise.

Learn more?

Do you want to learn more about how our customers are transitioning to online assessment? Read about their unique journeys to inclusive, fair and relevant assessment in our Customer Case Studies.