After spending many an anxious month in anticipation, Nagpur University final year students were in for another bumpy ride in the form of glitch-riddled, mobile app-based exams. Even as the university officials try to alleviate concerns and rectify flaws on the fly, panellists at this month’s TOI Debate — all NU students — relive the journey
Nagpur: Many terms have acquired new implications ever since the ruthless coronavirus barged into our lives. Examinations now test the organizers more than examinees, and Nagpur University’s online exam rigmarole has clearly corroborated that.
BBA student Prabhjyot Kaur Renu gave the university’s efforts an 8 on 10. “Technical difficulties notwithstanding, we were able to complete and submit the exams. NU’s efforts amid the pandemic have been commendable. It was, to my knowledge, the first university to come up with an application — a solution to the burgeoning exam problem,” said Prabhjyot.
Echoing her views, BBA student Arihant Jain said the massive load on servers created complications. “The system was tested thoroughly, but with so many students logging in at once, technical issues like lagging cropped up. I would also rate the process as 8 out of 10,” he said.
Since this entire scenario was new for everyone, chimed in Waidehi Swamy, another BBA student, challenges were bound to arise. “But while we faced several issues during our first paper, the remaining ones went off smoothly,” she said.
Some panellists saw it differently. Sociology student Ajit Singh found the ubiquitous struggle with submitting data online a serious concern. “The implementation left a lot to be desired. None of the helpline numbers were working, and neither the controller of examinations nor the vice-chancellor responded to students’ queries,” he said.
Even today, added Ajit, “The data of so many students is missing. But the university refuses to address that.”
Another BBA student Kinjal Mehta felt these issues could have been foreseen and averted. “The mock tests, for instance, could have come with a time limit. This way, the exam management team would have been able to gauge the network speed and lag issues in advance and plan accordingly,” she said.
Initially, many students did not receive the one-time password (OTP) needed to access the question papers on their mobile phones. This snag could also have been pre-empted, said BSc (IT) student Rohan Singh. “Promarc, the company that developed the NU exam app, has ample experience. It should have been able to tackle such issues much better,” he said.
The telephonic troubleshooting was also not up to the mark, said Rohan. “I was asked to keep synching my exam data, hours after the paper ended. Several calls later, one of the personnel told me at 9.30pm this was just an audio-video issue, and that the paper is automatically submitted half an hour after the end time. If I was told this in my first call, it would have saved some distress,” he said.
Endorsing Rohan’s point, Kinjal said people answering calls did not have the right information. “They were only repeating what they were told by the higher-ups. I was asked to close the app, but that was not too reassuring as there was no acknowledgement message on the screen,” she said.
“But eventually the paper did get submitted,” interjected Arihant and added, “Directly or indirectly, the problem was solved.”
The utility of conducting exams in this manner was also called to question. Mass communication student Manthan Patle wondered how many students would have sincerely studied. “What’s the point of an exam like this? Many candidates live in remote areas like Gadchiroli, where there’s no semblance of Internet connectivity. They had to face a lot of difficulties,” said Manthan.
A few panellists suggested that multiple-choice questions (MCQs) were not the right format for courses like BCom and mass communication, to which Prabhjyot said that the incorporation of subjective-type questions into the app would have been far more challenging.
Viva-voce examinations could still have been a better choice, Manthan responded. “This way at least the subject knowledge would have been suitably tested,” he said. Arihant added that his college did conduct vivas in October to evaluate students.
Kinjal said the kind of discussion the panel was having could have been undertaken by the university. “It could have rolled out a feedback form for all courses. Who better than the department members to suggest the type and format of questions?” she said.
The discussion veered towards the radical idea of doing away with exams altogether. Mass communication student Priyanka Dewase said while the importance of theoretical knowledge could not be discounted, practical knowledge was “more relevant in our everyday life”.
As someone who is bearing the brunt of ‘marks’, BE student Santosh Gupta welcomed the idea. “I am not good at academics but am proficient with programming languages. Most companies I apply to for jobs disbar me due to their minimum marks criteria. I wish we were evaluated based on our skills. Then I would not be sitting at home.”