To start with, I would like to express my gratitude for the Academic Council Debate Forum as a new communication channel that allows all people at DTU to express themselves. And thanks to all the people hosing it and serving it.

Why examinate at all?

According to DTU’s Study Environment Report [1], 40.8 % of DTU’s students experience serious stress symptoms in connection with exams. “Serious” means here, that students were given several symptoms such as “increased heart rate, stomachache, muscle tension, depression, restlessness, difficulty to relax, headache, anxiety, insomnia”. And here we are: These debate contributions [2-7] mainly focus on “How shall we test?” 
I challenge these tests and would like to ask the question: “Why do we examine at all?” The first picture that comes to my mind is two dinosaurs, seeing the meteor coming and ask the question: “Where can we buy more toilet paper?”

And indeed, “examining and testing is what we do at a university” – for credibility, accountability and ensuring that our graduating students have the best chances in the job market.

Now a more serious concern is: “Because we have to”. The law [8] in §8 & 9 says that we must test and that the teacher can account for her/his decisions. Other than that, it’s pretty much up to the teaching institution to implement this.

Artificial Intelligence

So, while we are debating how we can ensure that the students do not cheat in the exam, I would like to raise a perceived student's perspective on Artificial Intelligence. I observe uncertainty and existential considerations: does it make sense at all to get a degree anymore? Will there be any jobs by the time I’m out of here, or is it all just computers, agents, and model context protocols (MCP) talking to each other?

To all students reading this: my personal experience and opinion with Artificial Intelligence is: “Yes, absolutely!”. There are plenty of things that those machines cannot do. Especially being human, human judgment, authentic connection, wonder and deep understanding – as [3-7] pointed out, for example through the quick sketch of an idea on a piece of paper. Computers cannot have feelings, acting from a point of compassion, empathy, trust, care, wonder and more. Combine that with what your brain can do, and no machine will be able to replace the human being that you are in your wholeness. And then there are all the benefits and good things about Artificial Intelligence, that not only exist in educational contexts but also in the jobs later, that we are educating for.

So, what could motivate you to keep going in your studies?

Motivation

Let’s have a brief look into motivation first: One model that describes human motivation is the Self Determination Theory [9,10]. Here the 3 pillars of motivation are “sense of belonging”, “autonomy“, and “competence”. At DTU we have a challenging environment with respect to “sense of belonging”: approximately every 5th of our students feels lonely [1]. On the other hand, the students that are connected, work in groups, appear to thrive.

Now with the rise of Artificial Intelligence, I see the basic psychological need for “competence” being challenged: if computers are getting so “smart”, how can I find my cognitive place in the world? A valid question!

Educating students for a better society and more-than-human-life

So currently, our students are to a high degree stressed out, feel pretty lonely and now Artificial Intelligence is challenging everyone’s – also teachers’ – need for competence. On top of that, I sense that [2] adds a valid point about how uncertainty further affects the students in an undesirable way.

Stressed people are generating stressed systems, which in turn stresses the planet, that we are living on [11]. With regard to planet Earth: by 2026 we have crossed 7 out of 9 planetary boundaries [12].

Now this argumentation chains from inner well-being to the individual perception of the outer world and eventually to the many eco-systems, connecting the inner and outer, might seem to be farfetched. Yet, they are deeply connected – other than in [12] also in [13] and through the connection of Sustainable Development Goals [14] by the Inner Development Goals [15]. 
We can’t go on extracting more to the benefit of a single species from planet Earth every year, than it can grow [16].

The area of learning without exams

I see a deep connection between the inner way of being and the outer impact we make. Therefore, in 2024, we decided to drop the exams based on a power-over relationship. That is: I, as an educator, come from a perspective of “knowing “and the students must prove their learning through answering questions, writing reports and demonstrating knowledge. No more of that!

I have replaced that part of my courses (on Bachelor and on Master level) with learning reflections. Instead of my power-over relationship with the student, I am basing our relationship on trust – supported by DTU’s code of honor [17]. And most importantly, I meet the students from a point of trust, compassion, and empathy. [18]. That is how I am reading the students' reflections before submitting their evaluation for the course.

I ask the participants of the course 4 times per course “What have you learned about [...the last part]?”. This is a mandatory self-reflection from everyone and allows me to fulfil the legal requirement [8]. There are “no deadlines ☠️ - only living lines 🌱”; that means I provide a guided time frame and ask all the students, that have not answered personally how much more time they need. “There is no way of cheating in my course – use whatever you would have at hand, when working as an engineer”.

Other than that, I ask plenty of other questions, voluntarily for the students to answer. I ask about their well-being, their motivation, their discipline. Some questions are on a quantitative scale (1 to 5). Most questions are open-ended text questions, and the students’ answers are a goldmine for inspiration in changing current challenges in our education.

Stories from the results

By now I have had about 500+ students in those courses without traditional exams and learning reflections instead. Here’s what I perceive from the thousands of answers: 
With respect to Artificial Challenge challenging the human need for competence, I asked: “How would you describe your need for feeling competent? And how does artificial intelligence have an influence on that?” I was amazed by the level of reflection and awareness of our students: a brief sum-up of the many deep answers to this question is the realization that at the end of the day the competence is sitting in front of the computer.

The answers to the open question “What is good about having learning reflections instead of traditional exams in other courses?” reveal that about 2/3 of the students mention less stress and deeper learning: not just learning to pass an exam but actually engaging in the subject. And the answers to the question “What is bad about having learning reflections instead of traditional exams in other courses?” reveal that the attention going to other courses, where there is more pressure applied. However, that does not mean that the learning is deeper there. The quantitative questions about “learning more than in a course with traditional exam” students vote:

• 24 %: disagree / totally disagree
• 44 %: same
• 32 %: agree / totally agree

The question about “taking more responsibility for their own learning than in a course with traditional exam” resulted in:

• 19 %: disagree / totally disagree
• 29 %: same
• 52 %: agree / totally agree

With respect to “being more motivated than in a course with a traditional exam” reveals:

• 28 %: disagree / totally disagree
• 31 %: same
• 41 %: agree / totally agree

There’s plenty more quantitative and qualitative feedback, and this is an invitation for every one of you to reach out and get more insights. I would love to have more eyes on these valuable words and wisdom from the students than just my own interpretations.

Finally, there’s more than just the words and the numbers: there are the emotions, connections and plenty of students coming up to me, and speaking the truth from their heart – that's what the Latin word “courage” stands for: Students that tell me about their previous burn-outs, their talks with their psychologists and wouldn’t it be for my way of approaching teaching, they probably would already be back in the hamster-wheel.

I try “not to have any ambitions on other people’s behalf”, especially students in the courses I’m responsible for. They are spending that time of their life with us, where their biological body is at a peak, the mind can create wonders, and the energy level is highest. I am feeling very humbled that I am allowed to hold a tiny little piece of the course attendees’ life in my hand. I’d rather have a few over-performing students learn a little bit less, if I can contribute to less stress in just one student, that is truly in the mess of serious psychological challenges.

So why was it again, we are examining at all in the first place?

Credit goes to all the vulnerable, open and honest sharings of the students in the courses and these inspiring contributions:

[1] https://www.dtu.dk/-/media/dtudk/om_dtu/dtu-i-tal/noegletal-uddannelser/studiemiljoeundersoegelse-og-handleplan/dtu-studiemiljoerapport-2024.pdf 
[2] https://www.inside.dtu.dk/en/organization/boards-and-committees/academic-council/Academic-Council-Debate-Forum/Posts-in-the-Academic-Council-Debate-Forum/Studerendes-rettigheder-ved-eksamen-og-karaktergivning 
[3] https://www.inside.dtu.dk/en/services/messages/akademisk-raads-debatforum/opfordring-til-bibeholdelse-af-skriftlige-eksamener-uden-eller-med-begraensede-hjaelpemidler?msgid=3d768275-9c70-4069-a41d-4b69aea6792a 
[4] https://www.inside.dtu.dk/en/services/messages/akademisk-raads-debatforum/support-til-indlaeg-opfordring-til-bibeholdelse-af-skriftlige-eksamener-uden-eller-med-begraensede-hjaelpemidler?msgid=0960fb71-2fa1-4822-8538-79619e210656 
[5] https://www.inside.dtu.dk/en/services/messages/akademisk-raads-debatforum/new-post-regarding-the-future-of-pen-and-paper-exams-at-dtu?msgid=ee7c7f77-00ef-4ea4-8a24-a298868d5929 
[6] https://www.inside.dtu.dk/en/services/messages/akademisk-raads-debatforum/new-post-regarding-the-future-of-pen-and-paper-exams-at-dtu?msgid=ee7c7f77-00ef-4ea4-8a24-a298868d5929 
[7] https://www.inside.dtu.dk/en/services/messages/akademisk-raads-debatforum/nye-digitale-laeringsteknologier-maa-ikke-svaekke-valide-eksamener?msgid=5cf46a17-803f-40f5-9696-de594a6f9d42 
[8] https://www.retsinformation.dk/eli/lta/2021/2271 
[9] “Selvbestemmelsestheorien - Motivation, Psykologiske behov, og sociale kontekster”, Ib Ravn, Hans Heitzels Forlag, 2021 
[10] “Self-determination theory: basic psychological needs in motivation, development and wellness“, Richard M. Ryan and Edward L. Deci, Guildford Press, 2018 
[11] Regenerators, Laura Storm 
[12] https://www.stockholmresilience.org/research/planetary-boundaries.html 
[13] “Theory-U (2nd edition), leading from the Future as it Emerges”, C. Otto Scharmer, Berett-Koehler, 2016 
[14] https://sdgs.un.org/goals 
[15] https://innerdevelopmentgoals.org/ 
[16] https://overshoot.footprintnetwork.org/newsroom/country-overshoot-days/ 
[17] https://student.dtu.dk/en/exam/exam-cheating/dtu-code-of-honour 
[18] https://www.regenerative-educators.com/

Thank you all. 🙏

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