Table of Contents
COVID-19 has affected every aspect of our life which includes studies, classes, examinations, and more. Technology has made us switch over from conventional methods like pen & paper to online exams. Moreover, in a conventional exam pattern there stood a chance of human errors. But in the online examinations risk of error is low. Over the years many educational institutions, recruitment or competitive exam boards, and the corporate sector have started to conduct online exams through an online examination management system.
Nowadays, the current pandemic situation has left us with no option but to adopt the online examination method in schools, institutions as well as the corporate sector. Online exams are conducted in mainly two ways:
- The exam is conducted online at an examination center
- Home-based online exam
In the exam centers, verification of candidates is done by the exam center authorities. Whereas in the home-based online exam pattern, the verification is done online through email id or OTP system. However, in home-based online exams, there is a greater chance of carrying out the exam by unfair means by the candidates. Earlier schools, colleges and, the corporate sector could carry out examinations under strict vigilance, but it is becoming difficult to do the same when doing it online. If you are also facing a similar situation, we are going to tell you how to conduct an online exam without the fear of the use of any unfair means by the candidates.
Why should Educational Institutes and Corporate Sector switch over to Online Exams?
Schools, educational institutes, and the corporate sector can benefit by conducting online exams as in today’s pandemic situation, conducting online examinations is safe for the authorities and candidates as well. There are more advantages to add to the list which include:
- Effortless evaluation of the test/exam.
- Saves time and money for the authorities as well as the candidates.
- Secure due to the use of different proctoring methods.
- Cost-effective as it saves money spent on exam center arrangements.
Despite these advantages, there are several challenges that can be faced by the exam conducting authorities which mainly includes the fact that the candidates are using their own devices and can cheat anytime as there is no one for vigilance on the candidates while the online exam is going on. Next is that open text questions are possible, but they don’t auto-grade, so the authorities need to check themselves.
How can Online Examinations help Educational Institutions and the Corporate Sector?
Every year educational institutions experience a big challenge in conducting exams and evaluating thousands of answer scripts. The administrative process of examination delivery is time-consuming, highly-stressfully, and often poses concerns regarding security and bias-free evaluation.
The platform of online examination comes with features to help educators streamline the examination process. This helps in making the examination process easier and faster.
How to Conduct an Online Exam?
The online exam management system provides the complete procedure to conduct the online exam for school/institution procedure from registration of candidature to evaluation and release of exam results.
Online examination system management software helps in conducting online exams for institutions, schools, or the corporate sector. This software provides and stores the below information:
- Registration of candidates.
- Storing of candidate details.
- Generation of hall tickets with exam room details.
- Scheduling the test time.
- Verification of candidate details in the exam room.
- Setting up and maintaining the fair examination.
- Setting up feedback from the candidate.
- Evaluation of results.
Click here to learn more about Online Exam Software
How to conduct an Online Exam making sure there is no use of Unfair Means?
Though technology makes us more comfortable conducting the exams online, there is a chance of malpractice by the candidates with creativity.
To overcome or prevent cheating in online exams we need to adopt a strong online examination management system. It has the below steps.
- Secure Browser
- Remote proctoring
- Data encryption
- Audit Logging
- Authorization & Authentication
Secure Browser
Secure Browsing plays a major role to prevent cheating. Secure lockdown browser alerts when a candidate is trying to malpractice. Secure browsers prevent the below manipulations.
- When a candidate is trying to open a new window or tab, it will alert the candidate. If it happens three times, the exam screen will be terminated and the candidate will be disqualified.
- Keyboard handling will be restricted. If a candidate tries to use a keyboard, the exam screen will be automatically turned off.
Remote Proctoring
- In this process, the monitoring of the candidate is done remotely.
- In remote proctoring, candidates shall be verified with electronic devices such as webcam, voice-enabled mic. & sharing the screen of the candidate’s device.
Remote proctoring consists of the below processes:
- Image Capturing: It requires a webcam. The system automatically captures the candidate’s image for the particular time interval.
- Video Capturing: It requires a webcam. The proctoring is done remotely by either live stream or recording the session.
- Screen Capturing: A remote proctor can log in to the system and capture the screenshots of the candidate’s device to check the activity of the candidate.
- Voice Proctoring: The purpose of this type of proctoring is to verify the candidate’s voice. A remote proctor can listen to the candidate’s voice whenever the proctor wants.
Click here to learn more about Remote Proctoring Software
Data Encryption
- Data encryption plays an essential role in preventing unauthorized access to question banks. It also helps to avoid result manipulation without valid credentials. It is a vital feature to make sure the security of the examination.
- The entire communication between server and examination client is also encrypted with a secure mode of communication.
- High-level encryption algorithms are used to encode the data which otherwise cannot be decoded easily.
- This ensures the confidentiality of the question papers being exchanged between the server and the client.
Audit Logging
- The online exam management system provides a detailed logging system like login, exam process, questions, sections, answers responses, and logout actions will be recorded in the system.
- Geotagging also can be provided in the audit logging. It shows the exact location of the candidate.
Authorization & Authentication
- It is an IP address-based authorization and authentication, it provides access to the examination program is restricted or limited for the specified IP addresses.
- If the login id is admin, there is a possibility of having IP based authentication so that only the users trying to log in from specific IP are allowed to access the system.
- This enables access only for certain specific IP addresses and ensures complete safety for the examination.
A secure online exam process is essential if you wish to get an advantage from technology usage. The best practices of online exam security can help to conduct the exam smoothly. It can prevent the misuse of technology and the prevention of unfair means can be achieved.
Are you looking for help with Online Examinations?
If yes, check out Remote Proctor which has the capability to conduct online examinations with complete security and confidentiality. It is suited to conduct various types of examinations which include entrance exams, semester exams or term end exams, certifications, skill based assessments, and pre recruitment assessments.
Takeaway
Gone are those days when authorities would be tensed in conducting online exams just because no one is there to check upon the candidate. The selection of good vendors is essential to conduct online examinations more efficiently. A good vendor combines cloud and artificial intelligence to improve the assessment cycle and its results. It provides inbuilt question bank, automated test creation, accessibility and ease of use, white-label branding, scalable and customizable security & proctoring. Make sure to choose the right remote proctored examination solution with an integrated artificial intelligence module.
