Migration and transformation: A sociomaterial analysis of practitioners’ experiences with online exams

Abstract

Many institutions are making the move from pen and paper to online examinations, but the literature offers relatively few critical reflections on the ramifications of such a shift. This research presents evidence of the ways in which the social and human practices of online exams are deeply entangled with the material and technological, and cautions against the reinscribing of essentialist or instrumentalist assumptions about technology in assessment practices. Through semi-structured interviews with eight practitioners in Norway, the Netherlands, the UK and Ireland, it analyses the impact, dimensions and limitations of two main discourses: migration, whereby exam technologies are assumed to be neutral instruments used independently by humans to realise their preordained intentions; and transformation, whereby the essential and inalienable qualities of technologies can be released to ‘transform’ or ‘enhance’ assessment. Its findings indicate that: (1) exam technologies are neither inherently neutral nor essentially transformational; (2) implementation projects underpinned by the migration discourse can be much more complex and resource-intensive than anticipated; and (3) ‘transformative’ change may be value-laden and driven by assumptions. Given the complex and entangled nature of online exams, practitioners are encouraged to think creatively about how assessment strategies align with educational goals, to consider the limitations of current discourses and to analyse critically the relational and performative roles of digital technologies.