Online examination is the new trend during COVID-19

To evaluate students’ performances at the end of this session, schools and universities are now turning towards online exams. The online examinations have become the new trend because the 2019-20 coronavirus has affected education systems around the globe and the education sector is now exposed to an entirely new set of challenges. In India, currently, there are 260 million students enrolled in more than 1.5 million schools, 27.5 million UG students, and four million PG students are enrolled in 39,000 colleges.

With the onset of coronavirus outbreak, colleges and schools all over India are ordered to shut their gates, putting conventional examinations on hold for students and their teachers. Online examinations have an upper hand than the conventional method.

Online examinations are gradually becoming the new trend, because:

1. Practicing social distancing: During examinations, a lot of students gather at a single exam-center. Many students are made to sit in a single hall while they write their exams. This goes against the rules of social distancing. Virus transmission is easier in crowded places, and hence, methods of conducting examinations traditionally can pose a big threat to students and examiners. Online examinations can be very helpful to strike a balance between social distancing and conducting assessments successfully. They ensure that all safety norms are followed, and examinations are conducted quickly without any hassle.

2. Not compromising with the academics of final year students. Students of the final year would have to suffer the most in case their exams are canceled. They can lose a lot of placement opportunities because companies would not prefer employing candidates who didn’t give exams but were promoted just for the sake of ending the term. Conducting offline conventional exams during such a pandemic seems injudicious, but putting students’ future on stake is not wise either. Here’s where online examinations come to the rescue. Conducting online examinations is a good way out, where students can stay home and give the examinations, thereby not putting their health and future at stake.

3. A good time to transform the Indian Education System We have come a long way in the field of technology. From smart board interactions to children fiddling with smartphones, absorbing all the knowledge the world has to offer through the world wide web, it is needless to say that technology has come leaps and bounds in the education sector. Though we have projectors, smart boards, etc. used in everyday teaching, our examination mode is still outdated. Coronavirus pandemic can be a blessing in disguise. Right now, it is the perfect time to work upon our examination methods and make them more effective and interesting. Shifting from our dull methods towards online examinations can be the first step in this process of digitalization.

4. Saving resources Offline examinations can be tedious to conduct and it is even more strenuous to correct the answer sheets. It involves a lot of time, energy, and resources like paper, etc. Online examinations have an upper hand in this case. They do the opposite, that is, save resources and time.

5. Conducting online exams is comparatively easier Conducting online exams is comparatively easier, and they make it easy for the examiners to check the answer sheets. Most platforms like Rootworkz that offer solutions for teaching and learning, provide an option to automatically grade the submitted responses, and display them in the form of graphs.

Conclusion :

“You never let a serious crisis go to waste. And what I mean by that is it's an opportunity to do things you think you could not do before.” -Rahm Emanuel

Online examination is the need of the hour to keep our learning curve going while practicing

social distancing. There are a lot of learning management systems available, like Rootworkz

that can assist institutions in conducting online exams smoothly.

Coronavirus pandemic can be a bigger opportunity than a threat for us if we keep moving forward. We have been following our traditional classroom learning for too long now, and this is the perfect time to explore what online education has to offer.