Comparison of online and face-to-face exams conducted in Physics I course in higher education

Abstract

The coronavirus pandemic has affected most fields, including education, and most lessons have had to be conducted as distance education. In this study, it is aimed to compare student success in face-to-face exams with that in distance exams in the Physics I course. The sample consisted of 167 students who took a multiple-choice exam in distance education in the 2020-2021 academic year and 155 students who took the multiple-choice exam in face-to-face education in the 2019-2020 academic year. In the first phase of the study, the questions asked in both types of exams were classified according to Bloom’s taxonomy, and then descriptive and comparative statistics were used. As a result, according to Bloom’s taxonomy, the majority of the questions asked were at the application level. In the statistical analysis, it was determined that the averages of both groups were close to 45 out of 100, and there was no significant difference between the group averages as a result of the t-test. Accordingly, it has been concluded that the use of online exams during the pandemic as an alternative to face-toface exams in normal processes will not make a significant difference. © Author(s) 2023.