An online exam is a digital examination undertaken to grasp the understanding of a subject by students. Earlier evaluations resorted to a pen and paper approach where students were handed over paper sheets. The students go on to submit the answer sheets and then they are checked. With the emergence of online exam software conducting assessments has become a walk in the park. As compared to the traditional exam patterns, students log on to the system and are part of an exam.
The benefits associated with an online examination
Adopting online examinations in educational institutions has numerous benefits. They are depicted as follows
Environmental concerns are addressed
With a traditional pen and paper exam, there are bound to be a harmful impact on the environment. Taking into consideration the copious wastage of paper an attempt should be made to conserve natural resources. In the modern world addressing climatic change is out a topmost priority. Once you adopt an online exam system it safeguards your environment.
Technologically advanced
Technology has a positive impact on the manner it shapes our life. In this digital age, the use of pen and paper is a bare minimum. Most of the professionals rely on emails, digital presentations, or for other tasks. Human intervention has reduced considerably with the influx of technology.
The main benefit of an online exam is that it helps recruiters to scale up the evaluation process without any hiccups. Even inroads are provided to the student community so that they can achieve higher standards on education frontiers. The concept of online exams is catching up daily. The more they tend to be comfortable with the interface the better they are going to become in using this system.
Trims down the labor cost
There is so much cost involved in setting up a single examination. It can be from teachers to administrators for successfully conducting the exams. With the help of an online exam, it eradicates the redundant processes.
Time constraint
Everyone involved in the conduct of an exam will be aware of the time factor. A lot of time is involved in designing, evaluating or even to be managing assessments. The main benefit of an online examination is that it reduces the overall time to conduct the process. Precious time is saved at the end of students or teachers, otherwise that would be involved in repetitive tasks. By online exam software, there is an option of importing and adding questions, paving way for batch-wise exams.
Reducing overheads
The organizers are coping up with the issue of an increase in overheads. For exam it can be a cost with securing the venue of an exam, providing answer sheets to the students along with supplementary materials. You are going to realize the benefits of an online exam when it is going to improve efficiency.
Superior security along with privacy
Another notable feature of an online exam is increased privacy that contributes to the uselessness of these exams. No scope of indulging in fraudulent practices as in such a secure system the students are bound to succeed. This suppresses emotions and encourages positive growth. This level of security along with privacy instills a positive attitude in the students towards the entire educational system.
Open book exam
To a large extent, an online exam is perceived to be an open book exam. This is because during the course of a traditional exam there are people to supervise the proceedings. But in a digital format, this hardly seems to be the case. During an online assessment, it is difficult to stop the students from referring to books. Even during an exam session, there is a lack of supervision which puts a question mark on the nature of such tests.
Points to guard against in an online examination system
Adoption of a new technology
Adopting new technology is going to take some time and a degree of familiarity is suggested at the user’s end. Even a transition from traditional to online education would call for investment. But to make the students along with the teachers used to the system is the way forward. This form of training is going to educate the teachers along with students about the features and benefits of an online examination system.
Infrastructural limitations
Yes, there are positive effects of online examinations for both the student and teacher’s community, there are bound to certain infrastructural hiccups. A host of factors come into consideration in influencing user experience worldwide. Examples are power shortage, poor internet connectivity, or other problems.
The world is moving towards standardized tests and entrance exams are not going to remain the same again. In the year 1993, GRE was the first examination to make a move towards online exams. The GMAT followed it in 1997 and CAT in 2009. It is a common trend for examination bodies in opting for an online mode of exams because of a wider reach. Not only in terms of flexibility the system provides unparalleled ease.
Cause of concern with computer-based tests
In spite of the positive impact of computer-based tests, there are some apprehensions too. To conduct an online exam does have its own share of problems. The common among them is technical glitches and cheating. Even you cannot rule out the possibility of fraud during an exam. Since most of the assessments tend to be cloud-based, to manage thousands of them at a single go is a challenge. Among education set up data security is also a cause of worry.
To evaluate the performance of a candidate via an online platform does have its pros along with cons. This is in spite of the fact that it is becoming common among the teacher and student community. In fact, just after the conclusion of an exam results can be announced.
To sum it up online examinations are the future. They have gone on to replace the traditional examination patterns to a large extent.
