Online tests with R/exams: a fundamental tool for STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics) teachers

Abstract

Online assessments are an integral part of modern education and their importance has been further amplified during the COVID pandemic. Different phases of the learning and teaching process are often supported by both formative and summative assessments, carried out through learning management systems like Moodle etc. While there are clearly advantages of adopting online tests, in particular in large lecture courses, there are also many challenges such as the need for generating and administering many individual variations of sufficiently flexible questions. R/exams (https://www.R-exams.org/) is a software package for the R system that supports teachers in tackling these challenges. Exercises can be easily reused in both classical written exams but also exported to question banks for learning management systems, like Moodle. Moreover, exercises can be randomized, e.g., by including simulated numbers, text elements, graphics, or entire data sets. This presentation provides a general overview of the package's capabilities along with some experiences from teaching statistics and mathematics, both in a classical setting and in distance learning. In particular, the generation of large randomized question banks for Moodle and using "cloze" questions (comprising multiple tasks in one exercise) for high-frequency low-stakes formative assessments are discussed. Finally, it is emphasized how the modular design of the exercise format along with the open-source license of the software facilitates and fosters collaborative work that the authors want to leverage for establishing a global platform and community for sharing exam resources in statistics.