1.3 Online examinations have become a norm in most universities due to the outbreak
of the Covid-19 pandemic. Many would say that online examinations are the best way
to ensure that study opportunities for students are not disrupted and others may say
that they are unfair because they enable students to produce work that is not their
own.
Based on the above statement, write an argumentative essay in which you agree or
disagree whether online examinations are the best assessment form during the
pandemic? Your answer should not be more than 500 words.
(50 marks x 2)
Answers
Answer:
There are at least five reasons why no remote learner exam during the time of pandemic should be timed.
Timed Online Exams:
#1 - Create Unnecessary Stress:
During a pandemic, among the absolute top priorities of every college and university should be to avoid contributing to any unnecessary stress for our students. I'd argue that this is true even in non-global pandemic times, but we save that debate for later.
Timed exams create stress. Not for every student and every exam. But enough students in enough.
Stress and anxiety can push up short-term performance (as measured in test scores) but is horrible for long-term retention.
#2 - Are Vulnerable to Bandwidth Problems:
How is your home bandwidth? With six laptops competing for bandwidth in my house, not to mention every neighbor also on the internet all day, my bandwidth sometimes sucks.
With timed online exams, particularly exams that only show a single question on a page, bandwidth and other performance issues are deadly for the test-taker. Can you imagine your exam time ticking down as you wait for the questions to load?
# 3 - Are Poorly Correlated with Understanding:
Timed exams measure a student's ability to answer questions quickly. A timed exam is assessing speed, not understanding.
There is no correlation between recall speed and understanding. Students who can come up with answers quickly are not smarter than those who need to think before answering.
#4 - Do Not Protect Against Cheating:
Sometimes you hear that instructors assigned timed exams to guard against cheating. The idea is that students will not have time to go and find the answers from other sources.
The idea that timed exams protect against cheating is another one of those myths that higher ed can't seem to let go. The reality is that if students want to cheat, then they will find a way to do so.
In our current universal remote learning reality, I suppose that we could institute an online proctoring system involving webcams, keystroke logging, and maybe drones. I'm dubious if this will work, and I'm sure that the benefits would not be worth the effort.
But stop believing that a timed exam will do much to prevent cheating. It won't.
#5 - Place Undue Burden on Students Who Require Learning Accommodations:
I do not doubt that most schools are totally on top of the steps necessary to ensure that students with identified learning support requirements are receiving extra time on timed exams. If a student was approved for additional time during residential classes, that approval should carry forward to remote learning.
Even in the best of circumstances, however, requiring that our students navigate the systems in place to allow extra exam time places an additional requirement on these learners. The task of getting extra time for exams has to be more difficult in a remote learning environment.
Students (and their parents) who are savvy navigators of the education system have jumped through the necessary hoops to secure extra exam time. Those with fewer resources may not be on anyone's list of students entitled to accommodations.
So no more online timed exams during COVID-19.
If you have set your exams with a time limit, please consider rethinking this decision.
Anyone care to make a case for sticking with online timed exams?