The “coronacheck” will not be applied in the same way in the 2020–21 academic year as it was for the second semester exams and the exam resits during the 2019–20 academic year. The coronacheck refers to the set of initiatives and tools developed in the 2019–20 academic year, both for analysing exam results and for adjusting them.

In 2020-2021, a process was started to build on the most important elements of the original coronacheck tool in a sustainable way. This tool is intended above all as a reflection tool for both lecturers and also examination boards and study programme committees. The new tool means that lecturers will be able to reflect on the exam results for their subjects after the grades have been announced, and compare them with grades from previous years. On the basis of this reflection, lecturers will be able to evaluate the overall approach of the course unit and see how different ways of working and testing were used with a view to the future. Examination boards and study programme committees will receive a global overview of exam scores, percentage of.

Developing such a sustainable tool takes time, both in terms of content as well as technical aspects. The new tool is part of the broader test policy, the general education policy and the policy on study progress and study efficiency. It will also be integrated into the UGI Education Policy. This tool will thus be used after Corona, but is also available for use this academic year to investigate any possible negative impact of the Corona situation.

For the first semester exams of the 2020–2021 academic year, as always, lecturers will record the final exam scores autonomously. In mid-February 2021, a first version of the tool will be available to enable both teaching staff and study programme committees to compare the final results of the first semester exams with those of previous years. Through this tool, lecturers and training committees will be able to detect whether (more) students are missing any competencies. Based on this analysis it will then be possible to offer remedial measures in the second semester of the 2020–2021 academic year. In this way, students will have the chance to fill in any gaps in their skills over the course of the second semester or in additional sessions (e.g. via the Student Counselling Service, via a learning pathway, through a catch-up lesson, ...). We will consult with the students and lecturers in the study programme committee to consider how best to set up these remedial measures without unreasonably increasing the workload for either party.

The full tool will be available by June 2021. For the examination boards, this means that it will be possible to compare the exam results from both first and second semesters with results achieved in previous years. This analysis may give rise to deliberation at the level of the examination boards. The examination board can develop a well-thought-out deliberation policy within the existing guidelines. Deliberation may happen both on an individual level and for the whole cohort. The director of studies will monitor to ensure that any deliberation policy is applied uniformly within the faculty.

Since the development of this new tool aims to build on the most important elements of the original “coronacheck” tool in a sustainable way, both during and after the current context of Corona, it will be better to use a different name for the tool in the future. A provisional name for the tool is “the evaluation reflection tool”. This will be included in the UGI Education Policy as part of the “Evaluation and Review” topic.

In the context of privacy regulations, the aggregated data which is disclosed through the tool will be made available only to the responsible lecturers and co-lecturers, the chairs and secretaries of the study programme committees and the examination boards. The data can only be used for the purposes as described above.

Teaching staff can find additional information about the tool on education tips.