How Online Examinations are

Disrupting​ ​Traditional Examination

The terrifying impact of COVID-19 has shaken the world to the

core. Most of the countries have shut down their educational
institutes to contain the spread of the virus. India is no different.
As a part of the nationwide lockdown, the government has shut
down all educational institutions in India. And it halted all the
exams.

The Scale Of Examination in India

● ​India has around 300 million students, who actively take part
in education, and for them, an examination is a vital part of
their curriculum.
 ● ​It is estimated that in 2020, more than 50 million students
will take part in more than 400 entrance exams in India.

● ​In India, students and parents believe that great

performance in their exams will be a deciding factor to get
a good job. Students spend more than half of their
academic year in test preparation and taking exams.
● ​The Indian railway recruitment exam is the world’s largest
recruitment drive in 2019. More than 2.4 crores of applicants
applied for various posts in the railway recruitment exam.

By these stats, we can clearly see that examination is a huge part

of the Indian educational system. The way technology is
moulding the system is going to change the educational system
forever.

Why are Educational Institutions

Losing Their Confidence in
Traditional Assessment?

The rapid development of technology and ease of access has made

people lose confidence in the traditional exam systems. Here are
some of the reasons why regular assessment has to lose interest
among educational institutes:

● ​Conducting physical tests takes a lot of effort and time.

Institutes have to screen through many applications,
 shortlist faculties and do many other tasks. And it hampers
the healthy college life of students.

● ​Arranging invigilation, conducting interviews, selecting

staff are other hectic requirements for taking exams.

● ​The traditional assessment method focused on the

student’s ability to memorize what they have learned. It
does not focus on the behavioural and cognitive ability of
the students.

Why Do institutions Hesitate to

Adopt Online Examination Systems?

Even though traditional examinations have its flaws, educational

institutes have always preferred it over online examinations until
now. The pandemic has accelerated the adaptation of online exams
in educational institutions. However, here are some of the reasons
why institutions are hesitant to adopt online assessment.
● ​Lack of Awareness
There was not a lot of awareness about the online
examination system in India. The administrations of schools
or colleges were not aware of the availability of these online
platforms.

● ​Reluctant to Change
Despite the technological advancement in the education
 sector, most of the educational institutes remain adverse to
change. But, due to the pandemic, educational institutes
are forced to adopt new technologies. And, it will go a
long way to simplifying the examinations.

● ​Security Concerns
In the traditional exams, invigilators can physically ensure
that no malpractices are happening. But educational institutes
were sceptical if this type of security can be achieved with
online exams. This scepticism and lack of knowledge made
institutes reluctant to use the online examination systems.

● ​Communication Gap with Students

Teachers feel connected to the students when they physically
talk to them. They think that the absence of physical presence
will create a communication gap between the students and
the teachers. But that is far from the truth. Online exams will
facilitate more effective communication between the students
and the teachers.

How did the Examination Industry Change?

● ​Advancement in Technology
Innovation in the education industry is one of the primary
reasons for this shift in the examination Industry.

● ​Reduction in the Cost

 With the advancement in technology, the cost of
education technology has been significantly lower. It has
helped in the widespread adoption of online assessment
systems across institutions.

● ​Government Initiatives
The government established the National Testing Agency
in 2017 to use technology in conducting entrance exams for
higher education. Since then, NTA has become a driving
force for other institutes to bring technology into the
examination process.

● ​Government-Backed Training Centers

The government-backed training centres conduct many
online entrance exams across India. It encouraged other
educational institutes to adopt technology into the assessment
process.

● ​Ease of Use
The simplicity of the technology also attracted the institutes
and increased the use of online examinations systems in
institutes.

Benefits of Online Examination in India

The online assessment provides a multitude of benefits to all the
educational institutes in India.

● ​Reduce Administrative Load

 Conducting offline examinations is a very time
consuming and lengthy process. But conducting an
online examination does not require so many resources.
It saves time, money, and other resources.

● ​Increase Security
Paper leak is not new news in India. Almost every year,
somewhere in the country, question papers get leaked before
the exams. But with multi-level security in online
examination systems, the possibility of question paper leak is
next to minimal.

● ​Quick Designing of Question Papers

Question paper setup is a daunting task. There are several
things the question setters have to keep in mind before
selecting the questions. But with an online question bank
management system, this task becomes easy to manage by
the faculty.

Conclusion
Online exams have opened a new door for exam organizers.
Exam bodies can now conduct exams from different locations
across the world. With the online proctoring feature, students can
take exams securely from the comfort of their homes.

The education industry badly needs a solution that meets all the
requirements of the educational institutes. And the solution
provided by EduVue is the need of the hour.
 E​duVue
r​eachus@eduvue.in