Technology has found its way into the education sector and set in motion some great changes. One such change has been the way examinations are conducted. Thanks to technology, online examinations are slowly becoming the norm that benefits students and teachers alike.
By implementing an online exam management system, colleges can now shift their examination processes to a digital platform. Other factors like scalability, convenience, customization, and increased reach accelerate the adoption of online exams. Read on to know more.
Online Examinations – What and Why?
An online examination is essentially an exam conducted over a computer. The questions are provided digitally, and the students have to type the answers on their computers.
Also known as computer-based exams, these paperless examinations are safe and reliable. Online examinations can be conducted from anywhere, either the college campus or students can appear from their homes.
Countless universities and colleges are shifting to online examinations.
The good news is that any college can switch from offline exams to online exams. The advantages are aplenty and realized quickly post-implementation.
If you wish to learn more about the advantages of online assessments, request a demo.
8 Reasons to Swap Traditional Exams with Online Exams
- Reduces Logistical Issues
- Remotely Accessible
- Scalable as per Needs
- Supports varied question and answer formats
- Generates Exhaustive Reports
- Easy Re-Evaluation/Re-Examination Process
- Increased Security
- Accommodates Students with Special Needs
1. Reduces Logistical Issues
In the case of traditional exams, the colleges have to set up physical examination centres, stationary like exam sheets, papers and pens, and staff for invigilation. In short, it can be a logistical nightmare if not managed properly.
An online assessment can eliminate all that as the students can give the exam from anywhere using their laptops. With digital proctoring in place, there’s no need for human proctoring.
2. Remotely Accessible
Education has become accessible to everyone in the world as long as they have a mobile device and an internet connection. Colleges can now offer their courses across geographies and conduct online exams with ease.
3. Scalable as per Needs
Whether five students need to give the exam or five hundred, online exams can be conducted with equal ease due to easy scalability. It doesn’t cost much, and bandwidth wastage is less.
4. Supports varied question and answer formats
An online proctored exam supports different questions formats, thus giving the teachers a wide range of question styles to experiment with. They can set subjective and objective questions or MCQs while the answers support long and short answers, model answer key, and checkboxes.
Teachers won’t be limited in any way and design a good exam like they traditionally would have done.
5. Generates Exhaustive Reports
Online exams allow examiners to generate auto-graded reports, which can greatly benefit the students. These comprehensive reports detailing the students’ performances help them understand their shortcomings and competencies. These digitally-generated reports are more accurate compared to those prepared manually.
Apart from graded reports, the software can generate a multitude of reports such as a statement of marks, percentile, attempt details, students’ progress, etc. These tabulated and consolidated reports help universities gain insights that can help them improve students’ as well as university performance.
6. Easy Re-Evaluation/Re-Examination Process
Traditionally, examiners had to go to the examination center if they had to re-evaluate answer sheets. It was the same scenario if re-exams had to be held. Needless to say, it was a time-consuming process.
This changed with online exams which made re-evaluation as well as re-examination faster and easier. Re-exams can be conducted the same way as regular exams and barely needs any time and effort from examiners as the exams are proctored digitally.
As for re-evaluation, the examiner just needs secure logins to access the answer sheets that need to be re-checked. They can be re-evaluated from anywhere and revised results can be displayed faster.
7. Increased Security
One of the advantages of online assessment is greater security. The exam papers, student details, results, and mark sheets are digitally stored on the cloud.
Only those with the right credentials and access can view these details, something which isn’t possible with paper-based exams.
8. Accommodates Students with Special Needs
Paper-based exams are not accommodative to students with special needs and/or disabilities. They have no other option but to write it somehow or take the help of a designated writer.
Online exams have alternative assessment methods for students with disabilities. For instance, students with motor skills or an inability to write can use voice commands to record or type out their answers.
Go Online Already!
An examination management system will add great value to your higher educational institute. The students will appreciate the move to online exams, and teachers can also achieve higher productivity. Reach out to us at CollPoll for more details about incorporating a college management system in your college.
