Open Book Exams/Using Notes

[HigherEd7]

What do you think about letting students use their textbooks or notes during an exam? I appreciate any help you can provide.

[the_geneticist]

I've taken "open note" exams a few times as a student.  The biggest logistics consideration is whether or not your classroom has enough space!
Room with large tables/benches & not every seat is taken = good
Lecture hall with tiny "coffee cup armrests" = disaster

Another consideration is whether you insist on printed, paper notes.  Many of my students take notes electronically.  They will need to know well in advance if they cannot have their devices during the exam.

Are students allowed to share the textbooks or do you insist that everyone needs their own?  Will you have extras for folks who rented the eBook?

How copious are the notes?  Anything & everything they could write down?  A certain limited number of pages/note cards?

You can totally do this.  Just let the students know the expectations & guidelines.  And that they are allowed notes BECAUSE you are expecting them to have access to [key quotes? equations? data tables?] that they will need to be successful.

[HigherEd7]

Thank you for the response and great points! I am going to think about this a little more. Thank you.

[EdnaMode]

I used to do closed book and closed note exams only, and gave them tables or equation sheets when necessary. During Covid, when we had to switch to online exams for my lecture courses, first because of lockdown, then because there was not a room big enough to hold all the students and keep them socially distanced, I said it was 'open book' which really meant open everything. They were on Zoom, but I could only see their faces and I didn't use any tracking or anti-cheating software. I didn't notice a substantial rise in exam scores, even with the huge opportunity to cheat.

Due to the number of students using e-books, which would mean they would have access to a device with the internet during an exam, once we were back in person, just as an experiment to see if scores improved, I now allow one 8.5x11 piece of paper on exams but no book. They can write front and back, it must all be handwritten, and they must turn it in when they submit their exam. It's specified in the syllabus that they cannot have sample questions or any info that's not from course notes or the text. They can have problems we previously worked in class. Still no significant change in exam scores but the students seem happier and I think they see the sheets as a security blanket of sorts. Most of my exam questions involve them applying knowledge so they know it, or they don't.

[secundem_artem]

Let them bring in one 3x5" index card with whatever they can cram on to it.  Logistically easier and you still look like a hero.

[Parasaurolophus]

I don't. I might, however, start providing the inference rules for logic myself this year, if I'm feeling merciful after the midterm.

I do think there's pedagogical value to having them come up with their own cheat sheet/index card, but there is so much outright cheating here that I'm very wary of going down that route at the moment. Giving them the inference rules myself seems like an acceptable compromise.

[jerseyjay]

This is obviously discipline specific.

I remember that as an undergraduate in the humanities, many of my professors allowed us to bring in the books and a sheet of notes. This was especially true for advanced classes, where the class was less on memorizing things and more on being able to analyze/interpret texts or events. If somebody has not read Hamlet or the Communist Manifesto, they're not going to read it all in an hour's exam time, but having access to the text allows them to be able to refer to it. Often this was paired with being given a list of (possible?) exam questions that we would have to write essays on.

As a history professor, I usually have at least one blue book essay exam for the students. For this, I have usually allowed students to bring in the books for the class. To be honest I am not sure how useful it is to students, but it makes them feel less insecure. I do on occasion get really bad essays that consist of long excerpts of the text(s) strong together, but I make clear this is not what I am looking for.

I do not allow them to bring in notes for a class. First, because so few of my students actually take notes these days. And second, because they have on occasion written out entire essays in their notes.

Now, however, I am thinking of stopping allowing students to use the books. This is because my school has decided to eliminate paper books and replace with ebooks. I do not want to police what students are looking at on their phones or computers, and I don't want them to be downloading essays or using AI to answer essays.I may return to letting them bring in one sheet of printed notes.

[kaysixteen]

Students having physical possession of books during an exam may make them feel more secure, until/ unless some of them end up spending a bunch of time rifling through pages of textbooks trying to scare up test info, wasting too much time and effort in the process, and making the students feel decidedly less secure in the process.

[apl68]

Students having physical possession of books during an exam may make them feel more secure, until/ unless some of them end up spending a bunch of time rifling through pages of textbooks trying to scare up test info, wasting too much time and effort in the process, and making the students feel decidedly less secure in the process.

I think I see what you're getting at.  If students have actually familiarized themselves with the book, they might be able to derive benefit from having it available.  Otherwise, having course materials with them during the exam might end up being an unhelpful distraction.

I know that open-book exams are nothing new, but I can't recall ever having taken or given one.  So I don't know anything about when they might be appropriate or how to make them work.

[Ruralguy]

I took some as an both an undergrad and grad student. I have never given one.
it make sense for the professor to limit what people can access (say, a formula sheet for a science class).

[bio-nonymous]

Let them bring in one 3x5" index card with whatever they can cram on to it.  Logistically easier and you still look like a hero.

I do this as well, but with the stipulation that they must be handwritten (no 5pt font printouts and then bringing in 2x reading glasses!). I also think that process of making the note cards improves studying as the students focus on writing down what they don't understand well and inadvertently learn it. They students really appreciate the notecards.

[the_geneticist]

Let them bring in one 3x5" index card with whatever they can cram on to it.  Logistically easier and you still look like a hero.

I do this as well, but with the stipulation that they must be handwritten (no 5pt font printouts and then bringing in 2x reading glasses!). I also think that process of making the note cards improves studying as the students focus on writing down what they don't understand well and inadvertently learn it. They students really appreciate the notecards.

Make sure you specify the dimensions!  My physics professor said "a 3 by 5 card" and one classmate brought in a 3 foot by 5 foot sheet of paper.  The professor laughed and said it was fine.  They were doing so well in the class that they didn't really need them anyway.

[HigherEd7]

Great points! Thank you

[marshwiggle]

Students having physical possession of books during an exam may make them feel more secure, until/ unless some of them end up spending a bunch of time rifling through pages of textbooks trying to scare up test info, wasting too much time and effort in the process, and making the students feel decidedly less secure in the process.

I think I see what you're getting at.  If students have actually familiarized themselves with the book, they might be able to derive benefit from having it available.  Otherwise, having course materials with them during the exam might end up being an unhelpful distraction.

As I used to say, when I gave exams and made them open book, "You can't learn the course in two hours." (As someone said above, my exams were about applying knowledge, rather than regurgitating information, so people who didn't know what to do before they entered were still lost.) I was amazed at the stack of books some students brought in, especially given that my course didn't actually have a textbook.

[jerseyjay]

Students having physical possession of books during an exam may make them feel more secure, until/ unless some of them end up spending a bunch of time rifling through pages of textbooks trying to scare up test info, wasting too much time and effort in the process, and making the students feel decidedly less secure in the process.

I think I see what you're getting at.  If students have actually familiarized themselves with the book, they might be able to derive benefit from having it available.  Otherwise, having course materials with them during the exam might end up being an unhelpful distraction.

As I used to say, when I gave exams and made them open book, "You can't learn the course in two hours." (As someone said above, my exams were about applying knowledge, rather than regurgitating information, so people who didn't know what to do before they entered were still lost.) I was amazed at the stack of books some students brought in, especially given that my course didn't actually have a textbook.

K16 is correct. So is Marshwiggle. I tell my students, repeatedly, that if they haven't done the reading by the time of the exam, they're not going to be able to do all the reading during the exam. The ones who have prepared for the exam do well and rarely have to open their books. Those who have not prepared for the exam do not do well and often provide extensive summaries and excerpts on 3-5 pages of the book.

In some way, there is no real difference than if I hadn't let the students bring in the books. However, I find that too many students think they have to memorize everything in the book, and letting them bring the book diffuses come anxiety. (Yes, as K16 points out, their anxiety may go up when they realize they don't know anything about the material, but I would think that K16 would be the last person to complain about unprepared students feeling, well, unprepared. I would assume that K16 does not think the point of giving exams is to increase student's security.)

I disagree, however, with K16 that these students would have wasted time and effort. First, the only time they would have used is the exam time itself. And for effort, well such students tend to put in much less effort than most students who pass the exam. As to whether it is wasted, this depends on whether they then prepare for the next exam or not.