Designing open-book exams: Guidance on the pedagogy

This guide outlines some pedagogic considerations when designing take home offline exams or real-time online exams, both effectively ‘open book’ exams.

Benefit of this resource and how to make the best use of it

This resource supports educators who are considering the design and implementation of open-book exams. Approaches suitable to open-book exams are outlined, in addition to question formats that generally translate to this context. The OER also contains a concise guide around maximising academic integrity and deterring plagiarism / unauthorised collaboration. Finally, pedagogic considerations for open-books exams in the COVID-19 context at TCD are outlined. A helpful appendix is also linked in the resource, supporting the repurposing of face-to-face exam questions to open book exams.

Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY)

This work is licensed under a CC BY license, allowing sharing and adaptation with proper attribution.

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

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Centre for Academic Practice (CAPSL) at https://www.tcd.ie/CAPSL/, and Trinity College Dublin (2021). Designing open-book exams: guidance on the pedagogy. National Resource Hub (Ireland). Retrieved from: https://hub.teachingandlearning.ie/resource/designing-open-book-exams-guidance-on-the-pedagogy/ License: Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY).

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