The online examination industry is going to boom in the future due to technological advancement. Here is Parakh's take on the future of the online examination system in India.
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India has 37.4 million students enrolled in the year 2019 for higher education. With this massive number of students, India is turning into one of the biggest organizers of online examinations globally. The online education market in India is estimated to grow by.
Almost all the competitive examinations in India embraced the online CBT examination system. India has organized the world's largest recruitment drive through an online examination. That shows how serious we are about online examination systems, leaving the lengthy conventional examination process behind.
But have you ever wondered what makes the online examination system a preferred mode of conducting examinations?
Functionalities of Online Examination System
Let's see the basic functionalities of an online examination system. Then only we can properly understand the advantages and disadvantages of online examination systems.
1. Creating Examination:
The first step in conducting any examination is to create it. For creating an examination, the test platforms are equipped with different features such as test engines, question bank management systems, etc.
These features help the exam conductors host different types of examinations and create multiple sets of question papers with varying levels of difficulty according to the requirement.
2. Conducting Examination:
Conducting online examinations is a hectic job. It requires a lot of work like registration of candidates, arranging the exam venues, seating arrangements, exam proctoring, and many more. But with the help of current technologies like online registration portal, exam venue search portal, online proctoring solutions, the exam conducting bodies can efficiently conduct tests of different sizes without much of a hassle.
3. Evaluating Assessments:
The online examination system's last function is to automatically assess the examinations and generate detailed reports for the candidates. Most of the exam paper evaluation tools are equipped with AI features to prevent any errors from occurring.
Once the evaluation is done, comprehensive reports are generated consisting of test wise, subject wise, topic wise, and question wise performance analysis. It helps the student to get a holistic idea about their performance.
Advantages of Online Examination System
Online Examination systems have many benefits. Some of which are-
Automated:
Online examination system can be fully automatic. It makes it highly accurate and useful. And it completely eliminates the need for pen and paper-based examination.
Remote Proctoring:
Online examination systems come with different types of remote proctoring features. Online tests can be conducted without any fear of unfair practices and cheating with remote proctoring.
Low Manpower:
In the traditional mode of examinations, question paper and answer sheet handling were big tasks. The exam conducting bodies had to spend a lot of money and manpower to handle these tasks. But with online examinations, the workload of various teachers and staff automatically gets minimized because there is no need to handle a large number of logistics.
Less Travel:
Students don't have to travel to the exam center anymore like traditional examinations. Online examinations are not restricted to any geographical boundaries. Students can take tests from anywhere in the world.
Quick Result Processing:
In online examinations, the results are calculated almost instantly and sent to the respective students. However, in paper-based assessments, evaluating the answer is a lengthy process and prone to human error.
Reduce Logistic Cost:
In the online examination, the logistic cost is minimal. All the essential processes are done virtually. The evaluation process is also done online, thus eliminating the need for logistics.
Disadvantages of Online Examination SystemNetwork Issue:
One of the biggest challenges in conducting online examinations is connectivity. If any network issue occurs during the exam, the online test can be delayed or postponed.
The exams can indeed be taken some other time, but it negatively affects the students' minds.
Security Issue:
In online examinations, data are shared online and stored in cloud-based storage. But being in a totally online environment brings the risk of data breach and hacking. Suppose Hackers can get into the online examination system. In that case, they can completely sabotage the data and may even extract question papers.
Not every type of question can be checked automatically with the Online examination system. While online evaluation is excellent for short multiple-choice questions, they are not useful for broad questions. Teachers have to manually check the answers and grade the students.
Accessibility:
India is still a developing country. And rural areas are yet not connected through the internet or have computer systems. Under such conditions, conducting online examinations in such places is a faraway dream.
Role of Government in Promoting Online Examination:
The Government is making a lot of effort with different policies and schemes to promote digital literacy across India. These policies will give the Indian online education sector a boost to gain new heights. With initiatives like the Indian Government is trying to create long-term development in the online education and assessment sector.
That is why the Indian Government is trying to bring down the cost of the internet. The Government is also partnering with tech giants like Google, Microsoft, and Reliance to invent new technologies to encourage online education and examination.
What does the Future Hold?
All the critical competitive exams like SSC, CGL, CHSL, JEE Mains, Railway Recruitment exams have embraced the online mode of examinations. And at the current stage, with the coronavirus pandemic going around, more and more organizations will embrace the online examination method.
The online examination system application is vast. It can be used in various sectors, schools, colleges, tuition centres, or individual tutors.
There is no doubt that the online examination system is not perfect yet. There are a lot of disadvantages of online examinations that must be addressed.
But because of the demand for online examination systems, it is very much likely that online exam conducting companies will overcome all the drawbacks and create a safe, secure, and efficient online examination system in India.
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