Back to the Future: Implementing Large-Scale Oral Exams

Abstract

We did something unthinkable: we used an oral exam in our undergraduate business analytics course where course enrollment exceeded 600 students. ConVOEs, Concurrent Video-Based Oral Exams, are assessments conducted through a learning management system whereby all students simultaneously engage in an exam and submit a video of themselves responding to each question. By limiting the time frame over which the assessment can be completed, ConVOEs resemble a sort of conversation, as students must respond in real time to each question and demonstrate their understanding of course material in their own words. The conception of this format, though initially motivated by the shift to online learning during the pandemic, is particularly relevant as richer forms of communication are highly sought by employers yet absent from many business courses, and serves to highlight the old adage, “Everything old is new again.”