What would you reply if someone asked you about the most hated aspect of school or college? Answers might vary from person to person, but the general consensus would point towards examinations; most students detest exams because it is a mechanical procedure that requires them to diligently follow a routine of intaking information and writing down the memorized answers in the exam sheets.
Moreover, the conventional examination system gives more prominence to grades or marks, directly impacting students’ comprehension of the exams. For instance, rote memorisation and cramming are popular techniques learners use to retain knowledge and ace exams. Therefore, a shift towards a more effective examination technique, such as an online assessment, is a beneficial strategy.
But what goes into online assessments, and what are the useful measures to ensure the smooth implementation of such exams? Let us find out.
Pre-Examination Preparation
Creating Question Papers
You must be aware of the elaborate multi-step process that goes into making question papers for examinations; according to the traditional examination system, administrative staff prints the question papers. On the other hand, teachers spend days reviewing the syllabus and learning materials, writing down the questions and forwarding them to the staff.
The manual process is time-consuming and exhausting, whereas the process is much quicker while creating questions for online tests. In fact,online assessment softwarehas features that help teachers create different kinds of questions and store them for future use. So, after the exams, teachers can use them as references or check to ensure they don’t repeat the questions.
Furthermore, apart from facilitating typical exams, you can also create question modules based on Bloom’s Taxonomy and course outcomes. As a result, you can create an evaluation system that seeks to identify students’ performance progress and comprehension throughout the learning levels. In effect, you can establish a better assessment structure that goes beyond the barriers of testing students’ subject knowledge.
Organising Student Credentials
One of the key tasks before the start of the examination includes dispersing admit cards by the institute, which students must collect within the given deadline. Failing to show the admit card during the exam can cause issues; on the contrary, while taking online exams, students don’t need admit cards as they must follow a specified identification process.
For instance, they must register themselves by submitting the student identification details, which the exam software will store for verification. Similarly, institutes can use the system to generate hall tickets, and paper-based admit cards for the traditional pen and paper type exams.
Scheduling Examinations
Imagine the effort and time that goes into organising the dates of stipulated exams and allocating seats based on class and sections. Then the institute admin publishes the exam schedule on the notice board, or the teacher announces it in the classroom. Any changes or later adjustments with dates or days require the staff to make further efforts.
Meanwhile, institutes can avoid such laborious procedures if they have robust online exam software, which helps streamline exam scheduling activities. Be it offline or online tests; you can easily schedule practical or theoretical tests for particular classes and send the completed schedule to students.
Processes During Examination
Student-Detail Verification
You might be aware that one of the most common issues that have been pointed out relates to impersonation; the lack of veritable measures to determine student identity leads to proxy attendance. Therefore, instances of students taking advantage of the situation and letting others take the exam on their behalf have become habitual.
But ed-tech advancements led to the development of online assessment tools that ensure verification of students' details, making it difficult for individuals to impersonate. So, before commencing the exams, the candidate must log into the exam website with valid credentials. Then, the tool matches the details with the ones uploaded during the registration process; students show their ID cards to the remote invigilator and proceed with the online test.
Students Taking the Test
After students complete the identity verification process, they start the examination; however, throughout the examination, if they encounter any technical difficulty, they can avail help from technical support. Moreover, it is notable to point out that institutes must choose vendors that provide the facility to reach out to them during a mid-operation crisis.
Furthermore, students may face issues such as computer screen freezing or network loss during the test, so the institute team must be prepared to tackle such issues. Besides, the continuation of the test from the last instance of network loss is a useful mechanism provided by advanced tools.
Online Proctoring
The absence of in-person or physical invigilators and the freedom to take tests from the comfort of their houses allow students to cheat and use other unfair means. Hence, online proctoring is the most efficient measure that provides a sense of authenticity; for example, live proctoring allows live streaming of the exams, wherein an institute monitors student activity from a remote location.
Likewise, recorded proctoring allows recording the entire examination’s audio and video feed, which the examiner goes through later to detect any unethical action. On the other hand, advanced AI-enabled proctoring utilises Artificial Intelligence to flag malpractices.
Furthermore, the anti-browser activity mechanism prevents students from opening additional websites in the browser to check answers. Also, disabling copy-paste and shortcut keys are equally beneficial.
Post Examination Process
Evaluation of Exams and Generating Assessment Reports
Stacks of answer sheets kept on the desk and teachers checking each paper meticulously and marking them accordingly have been the standardised practice. However, one of the biggest advantages of an online assessment is that you can check the answers immediately with just a mouse click. Moreover, exam software comes with an in-built auto-evaluation feature, helping teachers to assess answers.
Therefore, students do not need to wait for months to get the exam reports; the tool auto-generates the reports, reflecting the obtained subject-wise marks. Moreover, teachers can get a detailed analysis of the test results, and the system provides an insightful report on the student's performance levels by comparing their previous test records. As a result, parents, teachers and students can get a detailed look at their progress.
Final Result Generation
Teachers can regularly use the online assessment test as part of the continuous comprehensive examination, allowing students to focus on their studies and keep track of their ongoing academic progress. Besides, they can provide immediate feedback to the students and generate final results for the main exams.
In addition, teachers can share the exam results directly with the students and their parents via mail and upload them on the institute's website.
In Conclusion,
Online assessments have reached beyond the stage of ‘’passing trend’’ as institutes can use it as a medium to check competency and knowledge levels. Unlike conventional exams, online tests are also easy and convenient to create and implement. And teachers can get in-depth analytical reports on student performance.