Published March 2010

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The ValueNotes report, `Examinations and the Role of Technology: Emerging Directions’, an initiative by MeritTrac, in collaboration with EDGE forum, is the first of its kind in India. It 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.

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.

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.