ABSTRACT
Featured Application This study aimed to compare online exams with their classroom counterparts by comparing academic achievement and student perception of difficulty, stress and fairness. This assessment is prerequisite if university education is to be less dependent on the face-to-face experience throughout the educational process. The COVID-19 pandemic has become both a challenge and an opportunity to implement certain changes in the world of education. One of the most important differences has been online evaluation, which had, until now, been marginal in most prestigious universities. This study compared the academic achievement of the last cohort that performed classroom assessment and the first group that was graded for an official degree using synchronous online evaluation. Other variables measured were the self-assessment of students in this second group, in order to understand how it affected their perception of the process using three different indicators: stress, difficulty, and fairness. Nine hundred and nineteen students participated in the study. The results indicate that online assessment resulted in grades that were 10% higher while enjoying the same degree of validity and reliability. In addition, stress and difficulty levels were also in line with the on-site experience, as was the perception that the results were fair. The results allow us to conclude that online evaluation, when proctored, provides the same guarantees as desktop exams, with the added bonus of certain advantages which strongly support their continued use, especially in degrees with many students who may come from many different locations.