Online Examinations in a Large Australian CS1 Course

ABSTRACT Due to the Covid-19 pandemic, universities were required to shift teaching online in 2020, including exams. This rapid move required many changes and compromises to be made in order for students to take their exams remotely. We report on the experiences of running online exams for a large CS1 course at an Australian university, describing the changes made to the online learning platform to support this task, as well as the authoring of the exam and the support provided to students. Several clear instances of academic misconduct are presented to illustrate some of the issues endemic to online exams. Broadly, this approach to examination was a success that we plan to continue in future years, and we reflect on how the approach can be improved.