In an era where artificial intelligence is revolutionizing higher education, one Australian university is turning to an ancient solution to combat the challenges posed by AI: the oral examination. The University of South Australia (UniSA) has revived the tradition of viva voce, a centuries-old method of assessing students’ knowledge through conversation rather than written tests. As chatbots and generative AI make cheating easier than ever, could this old-school approach be the key to ensuring academic integrity?
The Problem with AI and Online Exams
The rise of online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic exposed significant flaws in traditional assessment methods. Dr. Chris Della Vedova, a senior lecturer at UniSA, noticed that with digital exams, it was nearly impossible to gauge students’ true understanding of the material.
“With digital exams, we didn’t really know if anybody knew anything, which made it hard to assess. It was rare to fail students unless they didn’t complete them [exams].”
– Dr. Chris Della Vedova, University of South Australia
As AI-powered tools like ChatGPT become more sophisticated, concerns about academic dishonesty have only intensified. Essays and multiple-choice tests can now be easily gamed by chatbots, leaving educators scrambling for alternative assessment strategies.
Reviving the Oral Tradition
Enter viva voce, a Latin phrase meaning “by word of mouth.” This ancient method of oral examination has been a rite of passage for university graduates in Europe and parts of the Muslim world for millennia. Now, UniSA is bringing it back as a more accurate way to test knowledge in the digital age.
Instead of written exams, UniSA students engage in 20-minute conversations with assessors who draw questions from course material. The assessor then asks follow-up questions to probe the depth of the student’s understanding. Since implementing this format in 2022, the university has reported zero academic integrity breaches in the courses using oral assessments.
“Often you’ll ask the first question and get a good memorized answer, but we want to make sure they understand what they’re saying, so follow-ups give the opportunity to gauge how solid their understanding is.”
– Dr. Chris Della Vedova
Challenges and Criticisms
While oral exams offer a promising solution to AI-driven cheating, they’re not without their drawbacks. Some experts worry that the format may disadvantage international students or those who struggle with public speaking. There are also logistical challenges in scaling oral exams to accommodate large class sizes.
“Viva voce is what we reserve for the highest examinations we do – PhDs – to see what they’ve done, and I’m very supportive of it, it’s fantastic. But it doesn’t scale very well… My colleagues using more oral examinations are always running into the problem that a first year undergraduate course has thousands of students, (and) they don’t have the staff.”
– Toby Walsh, Scientia Professor of Artificial Intelligence, UNSW
Additionally, some argue that oral exams are at odds with the commercialized model of modern higher education, which prioritizes efficiency and standardization over personalized assessment.
The Future of University Assessments
Despite these challenges, proponents of oral exams believe they offer a more authentic way to evaluate student learning. By engaging in dialogue and probing for deeper understanding, assessors can get a clearer picture of what students truly know.
As AI continues to disrupt traditional education models, universities will need to adapt their assessment strategies to keep pace. Whether through oral exams, open-book tests, or other innovative approaches, the goal remains the same: to accurately measure student knowledge in an age where information is just a click away.
The revival of viva voce at UniSA may be just the beginning of a larger shift in university assessment. As educators grapple with the challenges posed by AI, looking to the past may help light the way forward. The ancient art of conversation, it seems, still has much to teach us in the digital age.
