ONLINE EXAMS ARE HERE TO STAY

ONLINE EXAMS ARE HERE TO STAY

• “Examinations and the Role of Technology: Emerging Directions” , an initiative by MeritTrac, a research report published by EDGE-Value Notes, gives a big thumbs up for technology in exams from both students and universities
• Comprehensive survey covering over 75 university VCs/Registrars/Controllers of Examination (CoE) and 400-odd students across the country
• 70% of all VCs/Registrars/CoEs indicated that they are considering introducing online examinations and 68% of these respondents indicated that they will do this in the next 6-36 months.
• 69% of all students, particularly those from Tier III cities, felt that universities that conduct online exams are more technically advanced.

New Delhi March 4, 2010: India’s first-ever comprehensive research report to understand the future of examinations the EDGE-ValueNotes report, `Examinations and the Role of Technology: Emerging Directions’, was released today at the EDGE2010 conference by Dr. Arun Nigavekar, Former Chairman UGC and Dr. William G Harris, CEO of Association of Test Publishers (ATP), USA.

This report, the first of its kind in India, endeavors to look at the issues with traditional paper-pencil examinations and the potential benefits of leveraging technology to deliver such exams. The report provides insights into the awareness, perception, readiness and experience of key stakeholders in Indian higher education with respect to technology solutions to assessment, primarily online examinations. The study was based on an exhaustive, countrywide survey of more than 75 key decision makers including vice chancellors, exam controllers, university registrars, academic experts, etc.

“It was heartening to note that decision makers are not only aware of the benefits of using technology for assessments, but they have also indicated positive intent with regards to implementation of online assessment,” says Dr Arun Nigavekar, Former Chairman, UGC and member MeritTrac Education Advisory Panel.

The study also includes a student perception survey – covering 400 students across several Tier I, II & III cities, to understand how students feel about online exams. The survey indicates that students too are positively inclined towards online examinations, despite concerns being raised by skeptics on their behalf. Interestingly, the supposedly less technology-enabled students in the Tier III cities are the most positive about such exams.

“This report will help catalyze the change that is needed in examination processes. At MeritTrac, we have always strived to bring scalable technology for examinations and this will help us address the key concerns in a structured manner,” says Madan Padaki, CEO of MeritTrac. This report is an initiative by MeritTrac, in association with Excelsoft.

Some interesting insights from the survey of university officials are:
• 52% of all VCs/Registrars/CoEs interviewed indicated that they are interested in the concept of using technology in exams, 15% are in the experimentation stage and 15% have already begun.
• 70% of all VCs/Registrars/CoEs indicated that they are considering introducing online examinations and 68% of these respondents indicated that they will do this in the next 6-36 months.
• Decision makers largely believe that technology solutions can mitigate some of the immense challenges we face and the level of awareness on the potential of technology is quite high.
• The top three priorities in exam management are faster results, greater transparency, and student authentication/higher security. Respondents said these will have the most impact on their decision to go online.
• Infrastructure, suitability of the test format and equating between multiple-batches of exams emerged as the top three perceived challenges with almost 60% of the respondents referring to them.
• Some respondents were also worried about the students from rural areas, who may not have access to computers at all, and may face difficulty in adopting this.
On the perceptions of the students;
• An overwhelming majority of students (95%) are aware of online assessments, and this is consistent even in Tier III cities.
• The majority of students (69%) felt that universities that conduct online exams are more technically advanced – especially students originating from Tier III cities.
• Majority of students consider the online process to be more accurate and secure, compared to traditional methods.
• Transparency of processes and convenience are the main perceived benefits, though students are concerned about the difficulty of usage of online exams, and lack of support from exam authorities.

“Despite the recent issues in online testing, universities still believe in the positive impact of technology, though they are more concerned about the implementation. Considering there is still a lot of groundwork to be done, the penetration of online exams will increase by 5 -10% in the next two years. However, given the greater levels of experimentation and innovation in the assessment space, we believe that there will be significant traction over the next three to five years,” feels Mr Arun Jethmalani, Managing Director, ValueNotes.


About MeritTrac

MeritTrac is India's Largest Testing & Skills Assessment Company. MeritTrac provides innovative examination process and assessment solutions to Educational Institutions, Government/ PSU sector and leading corporate entities.
MeritTrac will deliver around 3.5 million exams in FY2009-10 and has delivered close to 8 million exams till date - both in a paper-pencil mode and online mode. Headquartered in Bangalore, and having presence in 16 cities in India, including a network of company-owned testing centers, MeritTrac has over 300 full-time employees. The test research & test development teams have created a battery of over 300 validated tests, spanning areas like communication skills, general abilities, domain and behavioral skills. The test delivery teams have delivered tests in over 250 cities in the country – with the distinction of having delivered 1 million exams, in a period of 10 days across 175 cities.
MeritTrac has created India’s largest test center network of 50,000 terminals with authorized Pariksha Centers being activated in 185 cities in India. MeritTrac has also defined robust processes for examinations which are ISO 9001:2008 certified.

In the Education sector, MeritTrac works with prestigious institutions like Gujarat Technological University, JIPMER Pondicherry, IIIT-Bangalore, Manipal University, Sikkim Manipal University, NMIMS University and Indian Institute of Banking & Finance. Some of its clients in the Government/PSU include Govt. of Orissa, Govt. of Gujarat and over 12 large Public Sector Units. HP, Microsoft, Accenture, Cognizant, Wipro, ICICI Bank, Titan, Axis Bank, Jindal Steel and over 100+ organisations use our assessments for pre-recruitment & employee assessments. MeritTrac is also the exclusive assessment partner to NASSCOM for its NAC-Tech certification Program and is an accredited Assessment body for the Modular Employable Skills (MES) program by DGET, Ministry of Labour & Employment.

MeritTrac has been an acknowledged leader and pioneer in the field of testing and has been bestowed with several awards & recognitions like the eIndia ICT Award & the Manthan South Asia Awards 2009 for the online Gujarat Common Entrance Test (GCET) project - awarded jointly with Gujarat Technological University, and NASSCOM IT Innovation Award 2007.

MeritTrac is also a full-member of Association of Test Publishers (ATP), US which is one of the prestigious associations of test publishing companies - the first company from India to be admitted to this association, and an active member of NASSCOM, CII and FICCI-Higher Education Network.

MeritTrac is an investee company of Manipal Education.