A Study of the Evolution of E-Assessment Practices Following the COVID-19 Pandemic in Higher Education

During the period of confinement caused by the COVID 19 epidemic, universities had to radically transform the way they delivered courses and organized examinations. Many of them opted to go entirely online for both teaching and assessment. Even the most reluctant teachers have been forced overnight to adapt their knowledge assessment and examination practices to online methods. This transition took place as a matter of urgency, and the move to online examinations often consisted of reusing traditional methods and adapting them in an ad hoc and empirical manner to the distance communication tools available. After this period, it seems interesting to see how practices have evolved once everyone has been systematically exposed to online and computer-based examinations. Have we returned to the traditional examination methods of the pre-Covid era in a form of epidermal reaction to reject this period? Have we moved on to a massive and voluntary adoption of online modalities? Or are we witnessing another phenomenon that is part of the more general post-digital movement in education that we are currently observing? Well before the COVID epidemic, the University of Geneva had set up an infrastructure and support service enabling teachers to take their exams online on a voluntary basis. This infrastructure was rapidly reinforced to ensure the organization of all distance examinations at the time of the COVID epidemic. In this study, we propose to analyze the evolution of the infrastructure supporting online examinations, before, during and after the COVID epidemic. We also propose to analyze the evolution of examination modalities during these three periods to better understand how the institution adapted and evolved, but also how teachers modified their assessment practices during these periods. We will conclude by discussing the impact that the arrival of AI tools, and in particular generative AI, may have on the use of online and digital examinations.