(137d) Oral Exams in Undergraduate Cheme Thermo Taught Online

COVID-19 pandemic challenged educators in many ways, and in particular with a need for new means of students' assessment. Instead of trying to modify conventional written tests with advanced proctoring technologies, we proposed an alternative exam format, and tested it within the undergraduate Chemical Engineering Thermodynamics II course, taught synchronously online. The assessment was based on two parts: a "take-home" written part, somewhat similar to conventional written tests, and an oral defense of the written part. The oral part of the exam was carried out as individual WebEx meetings with students, and included a number of concept questions on the exam problems. The weight of the oral part in the overall exam grade was comparable to that of the written part. The effectiveness of this approach was demonstrated based on the consistency of the students' grades with other means of assessment, and comparison with the student performance in previous years. Additionally, the approach was evaluated based on several student surveys, which showed that many students liked this format, and found oral sessions helpful to feel more involved with the course. Furthermore, the vast majority of the students found this format of the exam helpful to learn the course material. Although this approach does not save the instructor's time spent on assessment, the students benefit from this time more. We conclude that our approach is a viable assessment option for classes below 20 students, or larger classes if teaching assistants/proctors are available. This approach can be used in the courses taught both online and in-person.