On-demand exams at IGNOU abd SIU reduces stress, cheating and actually make students look forward to them
On-demand exams at IGNOU abd SIU reduces stress, cheating and actually make students look forward to them
The Symbiosis International University (SIU) in Pune and the Indira Gandhi National Open University (IGNOU) in New Delhi have made academic history by becoming the first institutions in India to offer students on-demand examinations.
The SIU flagged off the on-demand exams with three MBA courses in agriculture, energy and environment and international business for this academic year 2009-2010, while IGNOU offers the programme for only its short-term certificate courses. 
Symbiosis will extend the programme to all its under graduate and post graduate courses from November.
As per the new system, a student can choose to appear from any one of eight exam dates per semester, unlike the earlier system where there was just one date per semester. The new system will continue to have two semesters. The course is broken up into modules and the exam is held the moment the teacher is satisfied that students can move on to the next module.
Said Dr M S Raste, vice chancellor of Symbiosis International University, "Any two days within a span of a month, will be allotted for a paper. The student can therefore appear for a paper on any one of the two dates, but not thereafter," he said.
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"We have not appeared for any exam yet, but I'm ready. I hardly feel stressed as I can choose when I appear for the exam. It's a huge relief," said Vineet Pujara, a first-year student of MBA in International Business.
Unique papers
Dr Raste added that by breaking up the semester into modules, internal evaluation will be a continuous process and the questions will be based on the discussions in class. "There is no question of malpractice because unique question papers will be set for each student. So even if two students are sitting for the paper at the same time, they cannot copy," said Dr Raste. The students will appear for the papers in the college lab.
Dr Rajani Gupte, Director of SIIB said the faculty was excited at the idea. "We are anxious to know how this works out. It's just been a month that we have started implementing this. Let's see how it turns out."
Dr Gupte added that teachers would be stressed initially as they have to set unique questions for each student, but there will be a huge data bank of questions to choose from and once that is done, the process will be simplified.
No worries
Jivesh Gaur, a first year MBA student said, "In college we studied just 15 days ahead of the exams and in-depth knowledge was non-existent. But here, you have to be up-to-date with the subject all times. And the stress of last-minute preparation has disappeared."
Dr Ashok Kolaskar, former vice chancellor of Pune University, however felt that this was not an on-demand examination in true sense, as it does not give a student full liberty to appear for a paper whenever he wishes.
The institution only gives the student a choice of dates. "What SIU is implementing is a step towards making the current exam conditions a little better and a positive step for sure," said Dr Kolaskar.
...And in Delhi
In November last year, Indira Gandhi National Open University offered on-demand exams to students in order to make exam patterns more flexible and learner-friendly. Students need to register online 15 days prior to the day they want to take the exam. In September 2007, the National Institute of Open Schooling (NIOS) launched its on-demand examination system for its senior secondary students in two subjects u2014 Physics and Mathematics. The facility is also available to Std X students. The results are declared within 30 days and the students are given a statement of marks thereafter. If the student is unable to clear the paper or wants to improve on the marks, he/she has to reapply.
Features of on-demand exams
>> Each year is split into two semesters
>> Each semester has four modules
>> Each paper can be written on two dates
>> There is no scope for copying as each paper is unique
>> The exam can even be held in 20 minutes
>> Reduces stress for students given choice of dates and shorter question papers
>> Ups stress of teachers as each student is given a unique paper
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