The education sector has been brought up with a drastic change over the past few years. Earlier candidates had to visit the examination center and were assessed based on what was written on the answer sheets. But now, there has been a complete change in the system where the candidate is being assessed with exams given on various online exam platform which could be taken up in various formats like quizzes, assignments, competitions, midterm, entrance exams and the list of courses provided by these platforms are endless. The company creating these platforms has also undertaken utmost responsibility in terms of security measures which leads to efficient conduction of examinations.
Now, the tutors can even customize the test according to their choices. The software has imparted education in almost every stream. Best security measures have been undertaken which include the installation of cameras to keep a check upon the activity of children. This measure prevents the children from adopting any cheating technique and the tutor is assured that the exams have been conducted fairly. The exams were usually considered as an offline written test or a practical test but the whole process has been moved online which has its own merits as well as demerits.
All the students and teachers require just a working internet connection with a laptop or mobile phone. This software is very easy to be installed and is not very complex to be used. The fully processed online software helps the evaluators to provide results as soon as the candidate has finished the test. The candidate is assessed based on the number of right answers and even in some cases regarding the time taken by them. The test window will automatically shut down once the period is over and the evaluators get the result based on the answers so put on this software.
A lot of cost and time has been saved by the student as well as the teacher. Students are no longer required to travelthrough public transportation or any traveling modes which was earlier required to visit from one place to another. Also, teachers spent a hefty amount of money on paperwork as well as to check the answer sheets. But, by these fully automatic software programs, the results are declared as early as possible which has indulged many educational institutes to shift to this software.
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Following is the procedure which is usually followed to conduct these online exams:
- Step 1: Firstly, A specific email/username along with a password is generated to the student through which they can log in to their account on the day of examination.
- Step2: Teachers are required to submit their questions one week before the examination and are also required to submit the answer sheets based on which the marks are required to be processed automatically by this software.
- Step3: On the day of the test, a working environment is created which permits the students to install the camera so that their activities are assessed by evaluators.
- Step4: After the user submits the tests, it is evaluated automatically by the systems and the candidates will be provided with the test scores within a short period of time.
There are a number of merits of the online exam platform which has forced thousands of educational institutes to adapt to these technologies. These online examinations are required to work completely based upon the internet connection and Wi-Fi network so it is pertinent for the candidates to have this software pre-installed. Conduction manual examinations involved a lot of paperwork and cost involved. On the other side, the online system also requires proper maintenance of the software and the maintenance of records. Candidates are required to have a stable internet connection which has been the issue faced by a lot of students living in rural areas. Above all, not every student has a mobile phone or laptop which increases their expenditure. There are merits as well as demerits but it is important to note that these online examinations are the future of the education sector.
Also, the tutors need to evaluate the best possible examination platform which is dependent upon various factors.
- Firstly, they are required to account for the marketing experience involved in the companies and how much do they charge for their examination services.
- The unique features which have made their customer base are also required to be noted. Usually, this software does have their websites so a tutor must visit it and keep a check on the reviews and feedbacks of its users.
For candidates, some unique features help them to prepare for the exam. Many software also includes the facility of giving mock exams which help to provide the same environment which would be during the examination. Getting an environment like this before the actual exam tends to decrease nervousness and anxiety which produces much better results. Automatic grading of the exams through this software is one such feature that has attracted a lot of educational institutes to adopt such technology. Also, the time and cost so incurred is quite less.
There have been some active remote proctoring measures which have ensured a controlled method on these candidates while giving these exams. The tutor needs to ensure that these examinations have been conducted in the best possible manner and there is no scope for any cheating environment. Active measures taken by this software that involves not visiting any other websites and installation of cameras to keep a check on the activities of the students ensures that there is the eradication of any malpractice. Also, the activities of students are recorded which could be used as a future reference for the navigators.
To conclude the above discussion, students have been forced to live in the educational sector which was much expensive and not even worth it. To an extent, it has been a human failure. But these online portals have brought a tremendous change in this sector so it becomes very important to adapt to this changing technology which reduces the stress, cost, and time so incurred to conduct these examinations.
