To prepare for an oral exam, students simulate the examination by engaging in dialogue with a chatbot. A student uploads their prepared material to the chatbot, which then asks follow-up questions based on the syllabus. The student answers the questions orally to their fellow students, who then evaluate the response.
The students are very nervous about the oral exam, including the format and the types of questions.
It is necessary for them to understand how they can (and cannot) use chatbots in their academic work.
The students must be trained to take an oral exam in programming. Simulating an oral exam, using chatbot as an interactive examiner, helps them prepare for the exam and become familiar with some possible questions.
The students need to learn how to write code. In this activity students reflect both on their code and aesthetic concepts, bridging code and theory.
Working in groups, students practice collaborative interpretation of code and theory, enhancing their ability to discuss, justify, and refine ideas in dialogue with peers and the chatbot.
Before class | |
Teachers’ preparation | Preparation of prompt. For the teaching session, I prepare the prompt that the students will use for the activity.
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Teachers’ preparation | Preparation of assessment form. I prepare a form that the students will use to evaluate each other's oral responses to the exam questions.
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Students’ preparation | Code Development. The six chapters from the course curriculum are covered in previous lectures. At the end of each chapter, the textbook includes an assignment designed to engage students with the chapter's key topics. These assignments are referred to as Minix. Each Minix typically consists of two components:
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In class | |
Plenary | Introduction (5–10 min). I explain to the students that we are going to run an exam simulation based on the curriculum and their coding work.
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In groups | First Round (10 minutes). The student who is about to be examined opens the chatbot link.
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In groups | Subsequent Rounds (50 min). The exercise is repeated until all six chapters have been covered. |
Plenary | Wrap-up (10 min). I wrap up the exercise and talk with the students about how they experienced using the chatbot.
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The students had the opportunity to try out the exam situation and demystify it. They expressed that it made them feel less nervous about the exam.
They gained insight into the types of questions that may be asked during the exam, helping them prepare more effectively.
They also gained awareness of their own knowledge gaps and what they need to review for the exam.
The students were required to justify the grade they assigned, which developed their reasoning and critical thinking skills.
The students learned how chatbots behave and gained experience with the strengths and limitations of chatbots.
Several students stated that they would use the prompt out of class when preparing for both teaching sessions and the exam.
The chatbot asked many good questions, but also some that did not make much sense or were phrased unnaturally.
The chatbot does not always behave as desired. For example, it does not always ask questions but may instead perform a kind of review of the code uploaded by the student, which is an error. This particularly occur for students using a free version of a chatbot and therefore not having access to the most advanced version.
The chatbot asked a lot of questions, which felt overwhelming to the students. It may therefore be a good idea to set a limit on how many questions it should ask per chapter, so students can cover all chapters.
At times, the chatbot was unable to accurately measure the students’ maximum tolerance for difficulty, resulting in questions that were too challenging. This occasionally led to feelings of intimidation or anxiety among some students.
Test your chatbot yourself before using it in teaching.
After class, evaluate how the chatbot behaved and consider whether you should revise the prompt.
As a teacher, you should be present during the session to provide assistance when needed. However, be careful not to participate too actively in group discussions, as it may diminish the spontaneity of the exercise.
Consider when during the semester the activity should take place and whether it should be ahead of the exam.
Make sure that the content of the exercise aligns with the exam.
You may choose to provide students with criteria they can use when evaluating their peers.
Consider whether students should give each other grades or just provide oral feedback.
Consider whether to inform them about the exercise in advance. If they are told to prepare, there is a risk that some students may not show up.
Students also benefit from sorting through the chatbot’s good and poor questions.
Ask students to create a user account before class so they can access the best and most powerful version of the chatbot, or use Microsoft Copilot, which Aarhus University is licensed to use.
Be brave and try the exercise in your teaching. Even if the chatbot does not deliver perfect answers.
If you are using ChatGPT consider buying the Pro version to enable the upload of all textbook materials. This would allow the chatbot to have deeper contextual understanding and more accurate domain-specific knowledge, improving the relevance and precision of its questions and responses.
Consider introducing a system for providing feedback on students’ answers, either automated or instructor-led.
| Educator | Vittoria Frau |
| Faculty and department | Institut for Kommunikation og Kultur – Afdeling for design og |
| Degree programme | Programming |
| Level of study | Bachelor level 2. semester |
| Course/subject | Digital Design - Aesthetic Programming |
| Number of students | 45 |
| Extent | Activity |
| Primary activity | Practice, communication and discussion |
| Teaching format | Small class teaching |
| Technology | ChatGPT |
| Implementation | Onsite |
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