STUDENTS REPORTING TO SCHOOL FOR FINAL EXAM
Should students enrolled in an on-line course be required to report to the school and instructor to take the final exam?
Online makes courses available to students all over the world. It might be difficult for students from some distance to get to your school. That said, how should the final exams be structured? More essay to see if the students have grasped the concepts?
Ann:
I infer that you might be concerned about "cheating". If you are, the only solution is proctored exams. While you can administer question types to assess the "applied" aspects of learning, you still do not know who completes the exam. This fact remains the same regardless of the quesion type.
Satrohan
I agree that proctoring exams is the best alternative if courses are offered worldwide. Having an approved institution where they are for the proctor and ensuring that picture ID and a password is given could be helpful to lessen cheating. As for the exams themselves, for our in class students, I concentrate more on scenerio type questions as opposed to true/false or multiple choice. Those can be done in forms of quizzes. The final exam allows me to see that they have been able to adapt the knowledge learned into "real world" experiences.
Suzanne:
The Proctored facilities with which I am familiar have a well organized and validated process to ensure that the goals of the Institutions they serve are fulfilled in a professional manner.
Your strategy is an excellent one. Assessing the "applied" aspects of the target knowledge and skills is one sure way of measuring whether learning has occured.
Satrohan
Having just completed a degree at an online college, I feel strongly about taking tests online. It would have been very easy for me to be unethical in the completion of my exams. Even in the typical "on-ground" college setting, the student who feels that he must cheat to make the grade will do just that. I agree that the way to make online testing work is by asking questions that make the student think about the coursework, analyze the lessons presented, and then provide answers based on the knowledge learned. Multiple choice is multiple guess at even the finest college, if the student hasn't been motivated and challenged during the learning process. I think that e-learning is the future for many people who would not have the opportunity to take college courses in the traditional model. So, I guess what I am saying is that having the online student report to the school for the exam negates the advantages of online classes and proctoring just assures that the proper student is taking the test, not necessarily that he or she will not cheat.
Paula:
I follow your line of reasoning. The Proctored environments with which I am familiar do not lend themselves to cheating. And I am referring to taking the exam online. Please share with us under what circumstances students are likely to be able to cheat in a Proctored exam.
Satrohan
Having taught onground courses, I have found that some students will find a way to cheat in most any circumstance. Obviously in the on ground environment the presence of a proctor does discourage the most blantant cheating however in the online environment checks must be in place within the software to discourage cheating. I think that is handled by using more multiple choice questions than discussion-type, essay questions and using a timing method that would discourage a student who is taking the test at home from looking up answers.
Having taught onground courses, I have found that some students will find a way to cheat in most any circumstance. Obviously in the on ground environment the presence of a proctor does discourage the most blantant cheating however in the online environment checks must be in place within the software to discourage cheating. I think that is handled by using more multiple choice questions than discussion-type, essay questions and using a timing method that would discourage a student who is taking the test at home from looking up answers.
Paula:
Learning Management systems are not fool-proof to cheating. Timing the exams is a solid measure to prevent cheating in essay type exams. Randomization of test items is a good measure for theory-based exams---MCs, TFs, FIBs etc. Unless we have an extremely large item pool, we would have to change our exams very often.
Satrohan
That is always a concern. I have taught the same series of classes over the last 4 years and it does become a challenge to change exam layouts with each new class. I do now use software program that generates tests for my classes. But with online testing, as in the old styles of testing, timing a test can be a very good remedy for cheating.
Paula:
I agree with the timing; especially as a measure to prohibit students consulting course resources for the answers.
Generating parallel versions of tests that are system scored has a longer shelf life than using the same test repeatedly.
We have had instances in which there was adequate reason to believe that students developed another version of "test-wiseness"-----as a group, they copied the exam by sharing the total number of questions among themselves and copying the questions----not the entire class; but a select group.
Satrohan
The purpose of an online course is to allow a student to take a course anywhere and so, therefore, who would want to travel to Alaska from Texas just to have to take the final under the supervision of the instructor.
Online courses have been extremely helpful during this time of crisis of fuel so what would be the use of requiring a student to come in to take a final with an instructor when the student may possibly be out of state? That would defeat the purpose of the online course.
Corrine:
Certainly no one would want to do this unless it was specified in the course description. Some students in aviation, fo example, do have to travel to take exams on-site because the facility to do the practical aspect of their exam is not available elsewhere in their location. For other forms of certification, there are facilities in which students take proctored exams. The Instructor does not have to be the there to supervise. Some instituions who are protective of their credibility and the credibility of their programs, do require proctored exams especially at the graduate level for professional programs, such as MBAs.
Can you think of other reasons why an institution would administer proctored exams?
Satrohan
Adarine:
please refer to my response to this queestion that I posted on October 08. It elaborates on your question.
Satrohan
Yes, there are some that choose to travel, but a lot of those were set up befo9re the energy crises as wel,l, and one major factor in our loss of students is because they do not want to travel over 50 miles to come to school because gasoline have been at much as $3.84 here in Houston. Through our software provides for court reporting, we can control the testing environment so a student can only test once, and it mixes up the tests so they cannot send the info to another. I don't know why other courses could not have the same abilities placed into their softwares.
The online location that I am familiar with gives weekly quizzes which are timed which is good because you have 1 minute to answer the question and you can not go back to change an answer,and you have to report to the school's location in order to take your final exam proctored by the Instructor. In my opinon this is the way it should be, because then you can monitor the student taking a test as opposed to them taking it at home or work and having someone help them with the answers.
Norma:
Agreed on all counts, except one. I believe the option to answer questions in any order, and the ability to change answers should be features of the Quiz, especially if the Quiz is timed. Students should have the same options as if they were doing a paper-based version fo the Quiz.
Two questions for you.
1. Do they change the weekly quizzes each time the course is offered?
2. Do they change the final exam each time the course is offered.
Satrohan
First Question,
No the weekly quizzes stay the same,but occasionally they do get change around and new questions added.
Second Question,
This is also the same as question ones answer.
