Oral Proficiency Exams in High-Enrollment Computer Science Courses

Oral exams were implemented in two different introductory computer science classes at a public research minority-serving university. The use of oral exams is motivated by two factors: (1) large CS enrollments; (2) remote learning. Due to the increase in CS enrollments, the CS course experience is at greater risk of impersonality with students lacking a sense of belonging. In some cases, students can go throughout an entire course with little interaction with other students or the instructor. Similarly, with the increase in remote learning due to the pandemic, especially in courses with large enrollments, students are lacking synchronous connections. An added issue with large enrollments and remote learning is the difficulty of controlling and managing academic misconduct. The three research questions of this study are (1) to determine if oral exams can provide a way to connect with students one-on-one; (2) to determine if oral exams keep students accountable on the course material and improve their learning; and (3) to determine if oral exams are stressful for students. In this study, we implement oral exams in two different courses taught by two different instructors. Students were surveyed at the end of the term to answer the research questions. For research question 1, teaching staff met with students one-on-one three times throughout the semester for enrollments ranging from 75-275 students to complete the oral exams. For research question 2, students reported that oral exams improved their understanding of the material and the oral exams encouraged them to do more independent work throughout the semester. For research question 3, students reported that oral exams were very stressful prior to taking the first one, but did not find subsequent oral exams stressful.