Transitioning Two-Stage Exams to an Online Class

Abstract

Students often find biology courses to be very difficult and isolating, particularly if they identify as part of a group that has been historically excluded from STEM. Some of this anxiety and isolation comes from high-stakes exams. We decided to use the collaborative structure of two-stage exams to try to overcome the isolation of assessment. In two-stage exams, students take an individual exam, and then immediately get into groups and take the exam again, discussing the questions and the rationale behind the answers. Their exam scores are a combination of the two attempts. Our move to emergency online learning because of the COVID-19 pandemic forced us to try our two-stage exams online. In this Teaching Tools and Strategies essay, we discuss our process of offering two-stage exams online at two different institutions: a two-year Community College and four-year Research University. We share feedback from the students and discuss our iterative improvements to two-stage exam use.