More experienced instructors will remember the days when paper was the only option. Returning to this method results in some trade-offs, but it does refocus students on the skills and mental discipline that support academic rigor. It may seem old fashioned to use analog methods and paper for assessments, but research has shown that students learn and retain information better when they use paper-based assessments, and we can still use technology to help manage the grading.

Upsides of Analog Exams for Instructors

There is confidence that students are not taking shortcuts to get their answers, off-loading their learning and using AI as a crutch if they are writing assessments by hand in class.

It may mean more time grading (or more GSIs), collecting papers and trying to decipher poor handwriting. The efficiencies that technology use has brought to the grading process will be hard to give up, but there are methods for leveraging the technology available to help ease the burden.

Upsides of Analog Exams for Students

Students report feeling anxiety about other students gaining an advantage cheating and using GenAI. They also report concerns about being tracked or being accused of using GenAI. 

Students also report short attention spans and being generally distracted by their devices. Practicing mindfulness and learning reflection in writing projects helps increase mental focus by reducing digital distractions.

Share with your students that these assessments encourage mental focus, academic integrity and metacognitive skills. The use of writing, oral or project assessments help build valuable skills students will need in the future. 

Methods for Paper Assessments

There is considerable pressure on instructors to ensure academic integrity in large enrollment courses to manage multiple submissions during the semester. Returning the paper-based grades back to students in a timely manner continues to be a challenge. 

Experienced instructors can easily recall the days of returning papers in a cardboard box outside their office so students could see their grades, before we had Learning Management Systems like Canvas to support electronic submission and grading. The days of piles of papers are over, and we can still leverage technology to make the grading process faster and better serve students in their quest for skills and knowledge they will need in the future.

Instructors using paper assessments can still use digital tools to submit paper assignments that have been created during class time. Instead of asking students to turn in physical papers, they can use their phones to capture their work and upload images to Gradscope or Canvas.

Finally, research has shown that paper assignments were generally more effective than online assignments in preparing students for the final exam. 1

Don’t Like Reading Student Handwriting?

If instructors find students are complaining about having to write or that their handwriting is illegible, there are still methods to limit the temptations of GenAI use in assessments and use digital tools. 

One method we can recommend is the use of the Google Docs plugin Process Feedback. This free tool was designed by teachers for students. Process Feedback enables teachers and students to see the writing process or AI use, and to discuss how the learning process can be improved. Students edit Google Docs as part of an assessment and the instructor can view a history of their edits on the documents. The tracking of edits allows instructors to access a detailed dashboard that shows if students are cutting and pasting blocks of text or otherwise not including their own work in a typed format. 

If you need assistance with paper based assignments workflow or other methods and technology support, contact LSATSLearningTeachingConsultants@umich.edu.

References/Additional Resources:

https://cuperjournal.org/index.php/cuper/article/view/51
 

Darragh Flannery, Brendan Kennelly, John Considine, Paper and online assignments in economics: A comparison with panel data, International Review of Economics Education,
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S1477388013000170lastTeaserUserQuery=Summarize%20this%20article