Flexible exam date options is a sustainable learning strategy benefiting both students and instructors in large science courses

Session Type

Poster

Room

The Great Hall, Somerville House (room 3326)

Start Date

17-7-2025 4:00 PM

End Date

17-7-2025 6:00 PM

Keywords

flexible examination dates, large class sizes, examination grades, academic stress

Primary Threads

Evaluation of Learning

Abstract

Sustainable education practices aim to create adaptable, student-centered learning environments that minimize student stress and instructor administrative burden. Flexible assessment strategies empower students to make decisions about their academic assessment schedule, increase accessibility and can promote learning engagement (Hills & Peacock, 2022; Jopp & Cohen, 2022; Wanner et al., 2024). We examined how offering flexible midterm exam date options influenced students’ exam grades, learning engagement and perceived stress experience. Fourth-year biological science undergraduate students (n=166) were offered three possible in-class examination dates to write the same exam (with randomized question order), which was compared to the previous academic year (n=173) when the same midterm exam was written on a single assigned date. Benefits of flexible exam dates options for students include experiencing greater control over their academic schedule, increased exam preparation engagement, and feeling less pre-exam academic stress. Instructor benefits include elimination of individual student exam accommodation requests and flexible exam date options required minimal additional workload (e.g., approximately four hours to create multiple versions and record two online 75-minute lectures for the classes that students do not write the exam that could be re-used in the future). Our findings offer insight into the practical and pedagogical value of flexible assessment strategies in large undergraduate courses. Visit our poster to learn how flexible exam date options influenced student outcomes, experiences, and instructional efficiency. Participants provided written informed consent, and this study was approved by the institutional Research Ethics Board (REB#21-06-022).

Elements of Engagement

Bring their smartphone, laptop or tablet to access a QR code with sample exam versions and a master answer key template that could be modified and used in your courses to facilitate offering flexible examination dates.

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Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 License
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Jul 17th, 4:00 PM Jul 17th, 6:00 PM

Flexible exam date options is a sustainable learning strategy benefiting both students and instructors in large science courses

The Great Hall, Somerville House (room 3326)

Sustainable education practices aim to create adaptable, student-centered learning environments that minimize student stress and instructor administrative burden. Flexible assessment strategies empower students to make decisions about their academic assessment schedule, increase accessibility and can promote learning engagement (Hills & Peacock, 2022; Jopp & Cohen, 2022; Wanner et al., 2024). We examined how offering flexible midterm exam date options influenced students’ exam grades, learning engagement and perceived stress experience. Fourth-year biological science undergraduate students (n=166) were offered three possible in-class examination dates to write the same exam (with randomized question order), which was compared to the previous academic year (n=173) when the same midterm exam was written on a single assigned date. Benefits of flexible exam dates options for students include experiencing greater control over their academic schedule, increased exam preparation engagement, and feeling less pre-exam academic stress. Instructor benefits include elimination of individual student exam accommodation requests and flexible exam date options required minimal additional workload (e.g., approximately four hours to create multiple versions and record two online 75-minute lectures for the classes that students do not write the exam that could be re-used in the future). Our findings offer insight into the practical and pedagogical value of flexible assessment strategies in large undergraduate courses. Visit our poster to learn how flexible exam date options influenced student outcomes, experiences, and instructional efficiency. Participants provided written informed consent, and this study was approved by the institutional Research Ethics Board (REB#21-06-022).