Students fill out test paper in emoji after teacher draws inspiration from WeChat

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Most students love using emoji and stickers when chatting online but these cartoons are not usually considered an appropriate means of communication when answering exam questions.

Nanjing University of Information Science & Technology in east China broke with that conventional wisdom on Friday, however, when it asked students being examined in user experience and psychology to draw the kinds of images commonly used in social media to illustrate feelings.

Student's answer sheet /Photo via Yangtse Evening Post

What drawings would you come up with in response to the following 10 questions from the test?

The test paper /Photo via Weibo

1. Facing the last test before your summer vacation, how do you feel?

2. Facing such a distinctive test paper, how do you feel?

3. How do you think the teacher was feeling when he was setting these questions?

4. Looking at the students next to you, how do you think they are feeling as they are answering these questions?

5. Please send just one sticker to your class group in WeChat to show your sense of existence. Which is the most special sticker posted by your classmates?

6. You haven’t answered a user experience exam question before. Have you any doubts that this is a real test paper?

7. This is indeed a real test paper, so please use a sticker to express your authentic view towards our faculty.

8. Eight is considered an auspicious number in China. How would you represent it?

9. How are your energy levels after drawing so many stickers? You will not lose any marks if you choose not to answer this question.

10. The sticker questions have come to an end. Do you want to draw something to show your mood?

Student's answer sheet /Photo via Yangtse Evening Post

The students had been studying how to analyze the experiences of a person using a product such as a website or computer application – theory which is becoming increasingly important as the business of app and software design booms.

Student's answer sheet /Photo via Weibo

Examinee Liu Xiandi, who posted the test paper online, told the Yangtse Evening Post that although his teacher had talked about the impact of sticker usage in social media applications during the class, he “never imagined his teacher would set stickers as questions”.

Student's answer sheet /Photo via Yangtse Evening Post

Lu Xiaotian was the teacher in question. He has taught the course for four years and came up with the unusual idea while seeing his students send stickers in a WeChat group.

“This is the final test for the exhausted students. I hope this test paper can lift their spirits,” Lu said.

Student's answer sheet /Photo via Yangtse Evening Post

He said stickers have close links with online product design and they commonly make people feel more at ease during interpersonal communication.

Student's answer sheet /Photo via Weibo

The examinees will not be assessed on their artistic skills but on whether their drawings expressed the proper meaning, Lu added.

Student's answer sheet /Photo via Yangtse Evening Post

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