Are remote proctored exams most viable way of assessment amid COVID; experts weigh in

Ensures assessment with persistent tracking.

Read|UGC asks greater education institutes to create COVID job force and helplines.

” Online exams offer a clear benefit due to the nature of innovation that is far much easier to handle and track from a centralised safe server, as opposed to managing physical test centres throughout the nation. There is no opportunity for paper leaks, loss of response scripts during transit, or missing out on assessing a concern. Because April last year, MeritTrac has actually from another location proctored over 5 million assessments for various institutes and none of the exams needed to be rescheduled or cancelled,” stated Sujatha Kumaraswamy, CEO, MeritTrac Services..

Students have been in a state of constant unpredictability owing to test dates and the closure of education and training institutes. While online exams can be held for entrance tests or semester tests, they may not be a viable choice for school examinations, especially board examinations.

Skipping or cancelling examinations would have unfavorable effects on the future of the students, stated Niranjan Hiranandani, Provost– HSNC University, Mumbai. Hence, it becomes essential to adopt an alternative technique of assessment, he adds.

” Online proctored board examinations are not a feasible alternative as carrying out online examinations will result in all sorts of misconducts, trainees who have studied throughout the year and not studied throughout the year will be at par, which is not the ideal thing. Besides, the plans needed to perform online tests will cost a fortune to the government and we can not overlook the reality that numerous areas of India are still without web connectivity,” said Kumar Tarun Narula, Class 12 student, SAI International School Bhubaneshwar..

” Online proctored exams in rural setup amid COVID is not possible, especially in school education, as there are many issues such as less connectivity, restricted access to e-gadgets, less awareness amongst instructors. Trainees in rural areas are not fluent with handling innovation and if anything fails then they could be at a fantastic scholastic loss,” said Sudhershan Punia, speaker, District Institute of Education and Training (DIET), Jhajjar, Haryana..

Jayaram believes if these features can be integrated with a single sign-on functionality that can be flawlessly integrated with a learning management system, the tool ends up being trustworthy. The trainee experience before, throughout and after the exam is not just the deal breaker but a game-changer..

” Remote proctoring is efficient, safe, affordable, and assessments are accurate, dependable, and timely. Particularly at a time like now, when health is a priority and we should maintain safe physical range, institutions require to carry out technology to preserve academic timelines.”.

” While proctored examinations guarantee that students resolve a concern paper, much similar to the conventional format without unfaithful, in open-book format, students are offered complex issues to resolve that need them to refer to different ideas from the subject and use their minds to fixing the issue. The focus is assessing the trainees understanding of the topic and not just how much they have actually memorised,” he added..

Niranjan Hiranandani, provost, HSNC University.

COVID-19 accelerated innovation adoption.

” At the beginning of the pandemic, institutes were uncertain about managing remote tests for students. Slowly, however, lots of institutes have actually rapidly embraced the practical option of AI-enabled remote proctored tests to assess trainees. Remote proctoring offers a practical alternative to physical examination invigilation. Exam invigilators can keep track of the activities of trainees in the form of audio, images, videos, and screen activities. The most important enhancement we have actually observed is quick outcome processing and flexibility in defining test patterns with technology-driven exams,” Hiranandani added.

Kumar Tarun Narula, class 12 trainee, SAI International School, Bhubaneshwar.

While the innovation was available for a long time, the shift from standard test to online was triggered throughout the last year. The benefits of proctored examinations such as accuracy, flexibility, cost-effectiveness, safe, scalable, fast and customised assessments are created to fulfil the gap while minimising the dependency on physical infrastructure..

Schools have actually been closed down in many areas throughout the nation and the federal government has actually recommended relocating to online knowing as a stop-gap arrangement to prevent disruptions in academic calendars.

Akhil Shahani, Managing Director, Thadomal Shahani Centre for Management.

No loss of response scripts or opportunities of misevaluation.

The extension of lockdown has caused the postponement of various big assessments at beginning of the outbreak in 2015. Trainees have actually been in a state of consistent uncertainty owing to test dates and the closure of education and training institutes. While online tests can be held for entryway tests or semester exams, they may not be a viable choice for school examinations, particularly board tests.

” It becomes important to familiarise and inform students and inspectors with the benefits and good practices of proctored examinations to make trainees feel conformable,” Sunil Kumar Agarwal, Head, Portfolio, Test Prep & & Assessments at Pearson India..

Reeta Sonawat, member of advisory council, Association of Indian Educacy Schools (AIS), said, “As an alternative method, what we can adopt is a 360-degree evaluation method, which thinks about 50 per cent of online and 50 per cent continuous evaluations. For online cognitive ability assessment, students might be assessed on responses to application-based questions. In addition, they can submit a mind map of the subject, which will offer an instructor a clear understanding of the trainees mindset. Our education system is exam-oriented and this makes sure that trainees follow an everyday regimen. It is essential that some assessment pattern is put in place.

Reeta Sonawat, Member of Advisory Council, Association of Indian Schools.

” At the beginning of the pandemic, institutes were skeptical about handling remote tests for students. Gradually, however, numerous institutes have actually quickly adopted the viable alternative of AI-enabled remote proctored examinations to evaluate trainees. The most essential improvement we have actually observed is fast outcome processing and versatility in specifying examination patterns with technology-driven examinations,” Hiranandani included.

The COVID-19 pandemic has actually intensified the role of technology in every sector including education. As the nation battles the 2nd wave of the pandemic, schools and universities are wanting to override the long run of unpredictability and worries by embracing technological tools.

Open books exams– another option.

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Sujatha Kumaraswamy, CEO, MeritTrac Services.

Just recently, the Institute of Company Secretaries of India (ICSI) needed to re-conduct the Company Secretary Executive Entrance Test, (CSEET) 2021 for prospects who dealt with technical issues throughout the exam held on May 8 through remote proctored mode. The exam was performed once again on May 10.

Vaidyanathan Jayaraman, Dean– UG programs and professor of supply chain operations, data sciences & & analytics at SP Jain School of Global Management, stated, “The software application tool ought to make sure biometric authentication based on ID scan, face scan and a 360-degree view of the space in which the prospect is taking the test. A vital function that can make this tool genuine, trusted and trustworthy is the function of a lockdown system the second the test taker attempts to access any applications or web-browsers throughout the test.”.

Akhil Shahani, Managing Director, Thadomal Shahani Centre for Management, and CEO of ask.Careers, thinks about open-book examinations to be a much better option..

Vaidyanathan Jayaraman, Dean– UG Programs, SP Jain School of Global Management.

Not a practical solution for backwoods.

As the education sector gets ready for extended online education and online open-book exams, those crucial of the sanctity of standard evaluation systems for promoting rote knowing are favouring proctored tests over offline exams as a trustworthy option..

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