I would like to thank Don Norman and several others who replied off-list to my questions about vivas by videolink. The responses were similar, and it's helpful to know that videolink or Skype conferences seem quite normal in various parts of the world. I have heard of several instances where the external examiner was located in one place and the student and others located at the other end of the line. Sometimes this seems to have been by design, and at other times by unusual circumstances. It would seem to be much more difficult if the viva team are distributed partially or wholly, but maybe this is a restriction of the current technology. I have certainly found Skype interviews of overseas students perfectly satisfactory.

Don asks two questions about weirdness. My questions were a bit tongue in cheek, as I wanted to tease out all possibilities. As an external examiner I usually do not know the student, but there would have to be collusion between quite a number of people to plant someone in the viva who was not the student who had written the thesis. I have of course heard the question about whether it can be demonstrated fully that the student under examination actually wrote the thesis, but that's one of the reasons for the viva and it should be pretty obvious to an external examiner. It should also be pretty obvious that the candidate was being prompted - at this level a professional discussion of the work makes it quite obvious how much the candidate knows and how well they can defend themselves.

My questions were in part prompted by thoughts of providing more distance education, not just of PhDs but also of research masters students. At masters level there might just be room for dubious happenings.

We were looking for principles that might underpin a relaxation of rules to allow for vivas or student presentations conducted remotely, and various comments have provided that reassurance.

I was surprised that Australia seems to have no requirement for a viva, possibly for the reasons that Terry cited. I had not heard of that before. At least it gets over the videolink problem, but introduces a number of other issues around rite of passage, deeper probing of a candidate and whether they can stand up to such scrutiny, and the practical matter of giving advice on corrections to the thesis: I would much rather explain f2f to a candidate and their supervisor, followed up with written notes, rather than have to conduct everything through writing. I also enjoy meeting the candidates, and often it is a joy!

David

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David Durling FDRS PhD   http://durling.tel
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On 4 Mar 2011, at 2:03 am, Don Norman wrote:

> David
>
> I have been a PhD examiner via Skype. The candidate and all the other
> examiners were in one room at Stanford University: I was at a distance (in
> Chicago). I think it worked quite well, but only because I knew the student
> and the work.   It is not the same as being their physically, but if there
> is no other choice, it is satisfactory.
>
> --
> Now, this is the complement of the situation you described.  You asked if
> the student could be the distant person.   Let me assume all the other
> examiners could be in one room and only the student beat a distance. If
> everyone was in a different location, then i do not think it would work for
> both social and technical reasons: the technology really does not (yet)
> support this for video at any affordable cost, and although this can be done
> by voice only, I do not recommend that.
>
> I suspect if everyone knew the student well, it would work to have the
> student be at a distance. Otherwise, i would not recommend it.
>
> Your two questions seem weird.
>
> 1. is this really the student? Are you serious? I would assume that that
> some of the committee would have significant interaction with the student,
> physically, and would affirm that yeah, this is the person.  Hell, if you
> don't know the student why are you giving the exam? For that matter, if it
> were a real physical exam and you didn't know the student how would you know
> who it really was?
>
> 2. How do you know someone isn't helping the student?  Huh? In a PhD exam,
> it would be the rare individual expert enough in both the general field and
> the specific topic of the dissertation to be able to prompt. And with video,
> such prompting would be pretty obvious.
>
> But more importantly, I wouldn't award a PhD unless the
> candidate demonstrated themselves to be the world expert on the topic of
> the dissertation -- more expert than the advisors. After all, a PhD is
> supposed to be a major contribution to knowledge and understanding, which
> means it goes beyond what was known before. How could one prompt?
>
> Don
>
> .
> Don Norman
> Breed Prof. of Design and EECS, Emeritus
> Segal Design Institute, Northwestern University
> [log in to unmask]  www.jnd.org
>
> http://www.core77.com/blog/columns/
> Latest book: "Living with
> Complexity"<http://www.jnd.org/dn.mss/living_with_complexity.html>
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