Personalized Distance-Learning Experience through Virtual Oral Examinations in an Undergraduate Biochemistry Course

Abstract

In-person interactions between faculty and students personalize the learning experience and are the hallmark of primarily undergraduate institutions. These invaluable student–faculty interactions were disrupted during the 2019 SARS-CoV-2 global pandemic and led to a rapid, unprecedented shift to distance-learning. Within the space of virtual distance-learning, individualized interactions and assessments of student-learning were largely relegated to online exams and quizzes administered via computer randomized multiple-choice, matching, true–false, and fill-in-the-blank type questions. This article describes the implementation of a virtual oral examination in an undergraduate biochemistry course at Towson University. Individual oral exams were arranged during the last 2 weeks of the semester and replaced a traditional written final exam. Each oral exam was conducted via Webex and had an average time of 20 min. On the basis of detailed, anonymous student feedback and survey data collected, the oral exam experience was valued by the students, and students agreed that participation in the oral exam personalized the distance-learning experience.