Most of the competitive examinations of modern times are been conducted in the Online mode. The system is a little complicated than traditional paper and pen method and mandates the incorporation of certain software to ensure that the students complete the exams in an ethical manner. There are a number of ends to end online examination conduction processes that are affordable and are highly efficient. The following are the components of these online examination processes
Components of the online examination conducting software:
They help with almost all the steps of the online exam conducting process starting from its creation.
· It helps in the registration process of students and inculcates online payment gateways for accepting secure payments.
· It helps in test creation with the most competitive questions required to test the ability of the candidates
· Its trained fleet of proctors helps in detecting any malpractice at the earliest.
· It helps in the complete management of the examination centre
· It ensures real-time reporting along with group analytics.
Advantages of these online examination conductive platforms:
- Cost effective:
These systems of conducting examinations are extremely affordable and are cost effective. It ensures cloud-based storage of the examination papers and thus helps to store all the data securely and forever with its cloud-based solutions.
2. Centre management:
With the help of their digital solution, these online examination centres completely eliminate the need for physical centres, which is again a cost-effective measure. Its automatic grading processes completely eliminate the need for effective faculty hours, thereby reducing manpower and cost. With its remote proctoring techniques, it also eliminates the need for faculties to travel to the test centre for monitoring the students.
3. Precise reporting:
The online examination system helps in the ethical online examination processby inculcating a variety of question types in the examination paper. It can assess the students on MCQs, long answers, short answers, diagram type questions, fill in the blanks, etc. It also renders hands-on training for students with the coding procedure in the exam.
4. Performance Evaluation:
After the completion of the exams, the tool helps to analyze the performance of the students against the current and the historical benchmarks. It offers differential grading logics for different questions and for different sections in the answer paper.
5. Renders proctored environment:
In case of students found using short cuts and copying techniques to pass the exam, the software freezes the exam browser of the candidate. Thus, it disables the use of software, desktop tools, and the internet for cheating purposes.
6. AI-based Auto Proctoring system:
The online examination conducting platform sends auto alerts for undesired candidate’s action in real time. It records the examination for future audits. Its methods are extremely accurate up to 95%. It helps in real-time remote monitoring of the students but still authenticates the candidate through Aadhar and OTP to avoid impersonation.
Web-Based Examinations and Proctoring devices
The APIs rendered by the online examination conducting platforms can get integrated with any web-based examination solution in no time. These tools come pre-integrated with other learning management solutions. These solutions help in simulating a classroom examination hall and conducts exams with absolute date security. With these tools, it is possible to access all the data about the students anytime through a personal dashboard. The results and the benchmark are all stored in a well encrypted and trusted cloud services. The following are the steps in using the tool.
Step 1: Configuring proctoring settings:
There are three modes of proctoring available, namely
· Auto proctoring- This is an AI algorithm that is trained on diverse cheating scenarios
· Live Proctoring- The exam is proctored by in-house experts who are assisted by the AI algorithm.
· Record and review proctoring – trained proctors review the exam session that has been recorded to validate the report from auto proctoring.
Different modes of proctoring:
The AI-based proctoring technology generates different flags during the exam session to catch suspicious behaviour by the candidate. The choice of flags available are-
· Absence of candidate
· Presence of additional candidates
· Suspicious activities of candidates
· Mobile phone found
Based on these flags, the AI algorithm generates a credibility index during the exam session. The credibility index is the single score that predicts the integrity of the candidate taking the test. The algorithm can switch on the screen recording of the candidate and also customizes as per the requirement of the examination conducting authority. This flexibility of these AI based platforms helps in the ethical online examination processand in hosting even open book exams with extreme confidence.
Step 2: Authentication of the candidate:
It is possible to switch on the candidate authentication process while configuring the exam proctoring services. As soon as the candidates click on the test links, they are asked to enter their registration details and click the picture of themselves and the ID proof. The proctors verify the photo ID against the registration details and certify the candidate to be legitimate.
Step 3: Proctoring during the exam session:
Auto proctoring during the exam session monitors the live webcam feed of the student. It authenticates the candidate by facial recognition, face and device detection and also body detection. Based on these flags, the algorithm calculates the credibility index and the cheating probability.
In an instance of live proctoring, a human proctor monitors the live webcam feeds and the screen recording. The human monitor’s multiple candidates depending on the configuration of the proctor student ratio. If cheating scenarios are suspected, they can pause the test, chat with the candidate or even end the test. All proctor activity is recorded for reviewing and recording later.
Step 4: Reviewing and Reporting:
A proctoring report is generated for all the online tests, irrespective of the mode of proctoring selected. The reports are available in both the .pdf format and the .html format. The report has five main sections,
- Credibility index: This is a single score that predicts the integrity of the test
- Authentication of the candidate: The report offers details of impersonation.
- Webcam feed of the candidate: This helps in conducting audit session for suspicious activity of the candidate.
- Records the screen of the candidate: This checks for suspicious screen activity.
Final Words:
There are a number of the online examinations conducting tools available online that are extremely credible in conducting secure exams outside the traditional classroom set up. They help in conducting the exam securely without any malpractice.
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