Before Christmas, over 152 school exams were converted into home exams at the last minute. Now NTNU has decided to do the same for the spring. This time they will have a better time.
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The exam discussion went high at Norway’s largest educational institution before Christmas. Some students warned against infection during the exam, while others wanted to have an ordinary school exam. At the last minute, NTNU decided to postpone everything which could not be converted into a home exam.
Wants predictability
Now the university has decided that they will drop the ordinary school exam until the spring as well. On its own website, the university justifies the decision:
«NTNU has 42,000 students and 5,000 scientific employees, and there are divided opinions among both students and employees about what are good and justifiable forms of assessment. What, on the other hand, is widely agreed upon, and which is demanded by the vast majority, is the greatest possible degree of predictability ».
They further write that it is impossible to predict how the infection situation is in May and that they want to have predictability. Not least for students who graduate in the spring.
Get support from the students
–Astrid Hilling is the newly elected leader of the student council at NTNU. She tells VG that they are happy with the decision.
– We want to avoid a repetition of what happened before Christmas. Many students reacted to the fact that the exam was changed at the last minute. Now we hope that there will be a predictable plan for the exam this spring, says Hilling.
She states that some students have to take the exam again.
– Students with symptoms of respiratory infection were asked not to show up. They have to graduate by the summer. Some of them probably experience that it affects motivation, says Hilling.
Before Christmas, the Student Parliament called for better plans, so that the exam could be held even if the infection situation should change.
– We wanted a plan B, so that there would be no quick changes in the last bit again. We are therefore pleased that a decision will be made and a plan made for the spring exam now, says Hilling.
Can still get letter grades
Pro-rector Marit Reitan says Khrono that NTNU has now been through two examination periods where the examination had to be changed at short notice, both in the autumn of 2020 and 2021:
– Both periods have been very demanding for both students and staff. We have discussed this with our education leaders, and we have agreed that the most important thing now is to choose a solution that provides the greatest possible degree of predictability for both students and staff.
The NTNU website states that exams that normally have a letter grade must still have a letter grade even if the exam changes form. Before Christmas, some universities chose to introduce only pass / fail on home exams.
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