Assessment of an online open-book examination in postgraduate dentistry

To investigate the impact of changing from in-person written assessments to open-book online assessments and assess grade inflation, student preferences and potential cheating.

Data from the Master of Clinical Dentistry in Fixed and Removable Prosthodontics (MClinDent FRP) postgraduate programme in dentistry was analysed. A comparison was made between the results from 3 years of traditional format written examinations (2017-2019) and the same examinations in an open-book online format over 2 years (2020 and 2021).

A comparison of assignment grades (all in open-book online format) over the 5 years 2017-2021 showed no significant difference in mean grades, suggesting the academic ability of each cohort was similar. The examination results increased by 2.5% (2020) and 1.9% (2021) compared with the equivalent data from 2017 to 2019. This shows modest grade inflation, which was highly significant (t 4.73, df 937, p < .00001) due to the change in format but suggests that no widespread collusion was taking place to raise the grades. Student feedback strongly endorsed the open-book online format and was of the opinion that it was less stressful.

The move to open-book examinations was supported by student feedback, and the comparison of results, while showing an expected grade inflation, did not provide evidence that cheating was taking place through enhanced examination grades.