An Inclusive Approach to Exams as a Response to the Pandemic

In March 2020, within the space of a week, England went into lockdown and Universities had to switch to online delivery of teaching, learning and assessment activities. Exams that traditionally took place in invigilated examination halls were cancelled and staff were left to assess students online. I was the Exams Office and Chair of the Board of Examiners for the year and resolving this for my department was my responsibility. This paper discusses the process of setting up digital exams in the context of a computing department, implementation, challenges and the feedback from both staff and students. This approach was adopted by 13 members of staff and the exams were taken by over a thousand students. The paper closes with how we intend to carry over the lessons learnt from this experience.