Due to Covid-19, the higher education system in Israel faced rapid changes. Among these was the immediate shift to online exams. In this paper, we endeavor to scrutinize the different approaches to online-testing that diverge, converge, and complement each other on varying dimensions. The main questions we would like to address are how online exams were implemented on a large scale in Israel, the pros and cons of each form of implementation, and what factors characterized these exams. Data was gathered from various sources, including both interviews with faculty and students, online exam observations, e-mails and procedures, and informal queries and discussions on various online platforms such as faculty WhatsApp groups. Our findings suggest dimensions for scaling online exams and demonstrate that each of the academic institutions we examined focused on one dimension of the solution, neglecting to address the other dimensions. The main contributions of this study are a simple guide to educators including 10 easily-applied recommendations on how to better administer on-line exams, an assessment of the implementation of the chosen procedures, and our highlighting of specific key issues that have yet to be addressed. Further research is needed, specifically to gather longitudinal data, so that our conclusions may be validated and generalized.
Implementing online-testing – cases in higher education in Israel: JITCAR