Moving to Timed Remote Assessments: The Impact of COVID-19 on Year End Exams in Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London

Summative year end assessments are a major component of student assessment at the Department of Chemical Engineering, Imperial College London. More than 600 students participate in over 40 different exams during the summer term. At the end of the spring term, the college moved to fully remote operation due to COVID-19, leaving the academic community with the challenge of delivering examinations remotely. At the time the pandemic hit the UK, teaching for all modules in the department had been completed, the exam timetable had already been published, and all exam papers passed the mandatory external quality review. To implement time-limited remote exams as stipulated by the university, the department decided to proceed with an existing VLE platform for submission of answer-sheets. This study highlights stakeholder reflections from the academic and student community during the implementation of this approach culminating in a mock examination to gauge readiness of the infrastructure as well as the student population. Our survey found that the majority of students (>80%) managed to follow the written instructions and readily engaged with scanning technologies and the uploading process. In the main, students did not have to adapt their learning or writing style. All stakeholders provided constructive suggestions at the end of the mock exam resulting in a relatively smooth transition to this new mode of examination. This study highlights challenges and reflections on making the summer year end exams remote in a very short time frame in a large and diverse Chemical Engineering department at very short notice.