Abstract
Universities are expected to deliver courses that build discipline knowledge and employability skills, while adapting to the current technological environment (de Villiers Scheepers et al., 2024). This adaptation includes the academic integrity challenges posed by AI (Lodge, 2024). As a result of AI, assessment tasks like oral exams are growing in popularity (Bayley et al., 2024). Oral exams assist with academic integrity concerns and learning quality (Stephenson, et al., 2025) and build essential employability skills, such as public speaking (Bayley et al., 2024; Stephenson, et al., 2025). There has been a growing body of knowledge examining oral exams (Nallaya et al., 2024; Stephenson, et al., 2025). However, much research has focused on student perspectives and outcomes (Nallaya et al., 2024; Stephenson, et al., 2025), not the exam facilitators. Given the logistical challenges of the oral exam format (Bayley et al., 2024), the facilitator perspective is important to explore. Thus, the aim of this study is to report on tutor perceptions and experiences of facilitating oral exams in a marketing unit in an Australian university.
Two focus groups were conducted with tutors who had taught a marketing unit at an Australian university that included a recently introduced oral exam. The focus groups were conducted between late 2024 and mid 2025 via Zoom. A total of six tutors took part in the two groups. The marketing unit was aimed at second-year students with approximately 600 students enrolled each year. The focus groups were conducted by the first author, who was not in any way involved in the unit or the university, which allowed the participants to speak freely. The identities of the tutors were kept confidential from the second author, the unit coordinator. The transcripts were analysed using thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2006) by the first author.
The tutors all agreed that the oral exam was a beneficial introduction to the course. Three tutors felt somewhat uncertain and hesitant when the idea of the oral exam was introduced. However, these tutors also felt confident with the oral exam, the support, and ultimately found it a valuable and good assessment tool. The other three tutors felt confident from the outset due to the clear communication and support from the unit coordinator. This support was key; the tutors could only suggest minor, future improvements to the assessment that would make it easier for them. Interestingly, all the tutors agreed that the marking was not onerous. In fact, they reported it was easier to mark, faster and more efficient. Thus, despite the logistical challenges of an oral exam, the marking overall was not one of them, despite the time it can take (Tang & Harrison, 2011). Only one tutor noted the logistical issues inherent in oral exams. The results of this study highlight the importance of a supportive unit coordinator when introducing a new and complex assessment. and adds to the conversations surrounding assessment change in the era of AI.