Student Perspectives of Open Book versus Closed Book Examinations— a Case Study in Satellite Communication

Abstract

The purpose of this article is to present student perspectives of open book examinations, contrasting them to those for closed book examinations. Reasons and advantages of using open book examinations are offered and may be aligned with important accreditation criteria stipulated by official accreditation bodies, such as the Engineering Council of South Africa. The perspectives of senior electrical engineering students, enrolled in a telecommunications module, regarding open book examinations from two higher educational institutes in South Africa were obtained using a questionnaire survey. More than 80% of students from a residential contact university and less than 60% of students from an open distance learning institute passed their open book examination. The questionnaire survey highlighted that more than 50% of the polled students would prefer open book examinations.