Technology available for simultaneous conduct of exams and assessment of students online

Mumbai:  While teaching has moved online seamlessly, the exam system to assess and evaluate students poses much challenge for educationists and students alike. The NEET and JEE Main exams have been postponed for the second time, while CBSE and CICSE boards had to cancel Class X and Class XII board exams due to safety concerns owing to spread of Covid pandemic.

As governments and education boards across the country struggle to conduct exams in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, Hepzi Anthony at thenews21.com spoke to Ambrish Sinha, CEO, MeritTrac Services, that provides innovative testing and assessment solutions to leading educational institutions, government organisations, and corporate entities. Their scientific assessments and certified products are used for hiring and workforce development, exam administration, and digital evaluation. 

Q: Do we have the technology to conduct online exams for lakhs of students simultaneously across the country? 

Sinha – Yes, the technology is available. Private universities and colleges in India have been undertaking online examinations for past few years. The pandemic has brought these examinations to an inflexion point and in the mainstream because people cannot go to test centers, colleges or schools to write these exams. Secondly, some of these exams are very high stake exams for example- entrance to IIT, NEET.

It has students from different colleges, universities, different income groups. Some might have been exposed to digital solutions and some might have been not. That’s where the government finds it challenging to decide what the best way forward is so that the student community is not impacted, parents’ concerns are addressed and the academic year does not suffer. But yes technology does exist to conduct these exams.

Q: Is there some way to bridge the digital divide in exams in a country where many may not have access to internet or technology especially for many students from rural and poor backgrounds? 

Sinha– Internet is available across India now especially since the last two years. The internet penetration too, is very high in India. The challenge is not access to high speed internet but good quality phones or tablets whether it is android or some other applications. Yes, there is a concern around that because students have not learnt to give exams from phones.

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Q: What is the challenge before governments while conducting online exams? 

Sinha – If students have access to a laptop or tablet with good data connectivity, than large exams could be conducted. Many private universities, colleges are already doing that. The challenge is that such tools are online in nature and require internet connectivity throughout the exam. There are digital tools, AI & ML algorithm that cannot reside in an independent phone or laptop because it is based on large usage of data.  If internet access is not there at some point of time, than the student may continue to work and to upload or download in the three-hour exam session. 

Q: What are the various tools available to ensure quality of exams? Is it possible to replicate the exam center vigilant environment in an online world today? 

Sinha – Yes, online proctoring or invigilation is available. The proctor can see pictures, record the ambience or noise, the environment to maintain integrity and sanctity of the exam. We can capture the ambience noises, use facial recognition software, phone or tablet camera to take multiple pictures. We will know if you are looking right or left. We try to simulate the entire experience of a classroom in the comfort of your home. With a basic level of internet connectivity, we can also do live proctoring.

Also, when you are giving an examination on our secure examination browser, it automatically disables the power to access any other browser to look for answers while you are giving the exam. You will have to exit that system to access any other browser. The proctor or invigilator can also come online and check if the candidate is spending too much time on one question, or if something is going wrong. Proctoring is critical to maintain integrity of the exams. That technology is available; it’s an application.  Basically these are very simple browsers that are easily accessible. The cost associated with building the software is charged to the university.

Q: How do we ensure that the right candidate is taking the exam? 

Sinha – We do have tools like face recognition. For example when a student is logging in, the institution can see the photo in the admit card and make sure you are the same person. To measure the efficacy of the examination, it has to have independent validation, which could be in the form of remote proctoring tools. Giving exam offline is as good as taking an exam from your book. Exam paper is there to write and upload. The integrity could get compromised as how would one know it was done with the right intent? 

Q: How long does it take to implement the online exam system? 

Sinha – It is cloud enabled. Once the university gives a go-ahead, we give a demo and then a few days to get the faculty to get accustomed and then next day the test can be taken. The only time it takes is to upload questions papers into the system. You insert the question paper with a certain set of rules and criteria and the students’ data is uploaded. 

Q: How can online evaluation of answer scripts are done?

Sinha – For online evaluation of answerscripts- If it’s a complete digital examination then answer key can be made available. There are security features which are untamperable. And if it’s a multiple choice question and answer key is spread into the system, you will get the results instantly. Ranking and percentile can get later. As regards descriptive questions, with TracMarks, MeritTrac’s on-screen marking solution, institutions can digitize pen and paper answer scripts and mark them on-screen to improve the quality and speed of marking.

After an examination or assessment, the paper-based answer scripts are sent to a secure scanning centre. Here the candidate details are masked, and bar-codes are assigned for tracking. The answer scripts are then scanned, digitized, encrypted, and stored in secure data centers. (Cloud platform) This helps to avoid tampering, misuse, fraudulent use and reduces the chance of bias-based evaluation. The encrypted answer scripts are distributed electronically, enabling examiners to mark on-screen, and include comments and annotations as they would in traditional marking. The digital evaluation system’s internal messaging system improves collaboration and coordination.

Q: What are the advantages of digital evaluation and how long does the process take? 

Sinha – In case of digital evaluation, there is transparency and cost savings. It can be scanned and available at any point of time. You can save time, teachers don’t have go to centers to evaluate. If the pool of examiners is larger, they don’t  have to be in the same location or city; they just need to be provided with a secure access. Universities who take up digital evaluation, won’t take more than two to three months to declare results. It only takes that much time to scan answer sheets and to evaluate.

Q: What are the challenges in the system to conduct online exams and how can governments work their way around this problem?

Sinha – Access to internet is not an issue; access to devices and technology is the real challenge. If we have the device, online exams can take off. I think the government is looking at ways to resolve it. Once that happens, I am sure we will be able to conduct the exams online. But the good part is that the technology is available today. The HRD minister announced few days back that in the first go the government is planning to give away 40 lakhs digital devices to select states and central universities to their students.

Devices could be provided the way books and uniforms are provided when students take admission. Either it could be subsidized by somebody or they could pay for it. Low cost technology could be made available to students now with good phones and tablets available in less than Rs 5,000. If that becomes a part of the government mission to provide devices to all students who enroll for universities or colleges, tomorrow even if the pandemic were to appear again, there would be no cause for worry, as examinations could be conducted and results declared peacefully.