Denmark allows its students to use the Internet during certain tests. After more than 10 years of experimentation, the results are satisfactory for this realm.
Every year in France, rumors of subject leaks or new cheating techniques flood in. In Denmark, these questions do not arise. And for good reason, the Danes use their personal computer during certain exams.
Students first experimented with the method locally in 2007 in 14 high schools. The subjects concerned are Danish, maths and social sciences for the general streams. According to an evaluation report: “Students and teachers noted that the exam conditions, with internet access, had increased the quality of the lessons.”
Jeppe Bundsgaard, researcher at the Institute of Pedagogy and Education in Aarhus, explains to Le Monde this Danish policy: “We try to create authenticity. The traditional test, where students sit for hours in a room , isolated from the rest of the world, is completely artificial.Allowing them to access the Internet puts them in a situation as close to reality as possible, testing what they have learned in school and their working methods. “
Then the method became institutionalized across the Scandinavian country. It is even allowed to come with its course and its books for these tests. According to Jens Philip Yazdani, a former elected Danish high school student quoted by Le Monde: “In return, the level of requirements is higher.”
No need to memorize anymore! According to Simon Rosell Holt, an English teacher interviewed by Brut, “If you think it’s important for your students to just memorize, you need to assess them on that. But if you think your students need to know how to put together information, evaluating it, processing it and presenting it, then they have to do it during the exams.”
Cheating is therefore not tracked down in the same way in the country of Andersen, Danish education relies on the quest for plagiarism in these tests where the Internet is allowed. Students also do not have the right to come into contact with the outside world during the tests. Schools even collect some computers to check student activities.
