With the advancements in science and technology, our education system has evolved a lot. With better flexibility, convenience, and comfort provided, educators and learners are switching to online modes of teaching and learning. In our education system, exams play an important role in students’ success and teachers’ growth in the professional field. There has been a gradual shift from traditional assessments to online assessment methods. Let us discuss the benefits of online assessment for teachers and learners both.
Benefits of online assessment for teachers and learners
1. Better flexibility and convenience
Reaching the exam centers, and traveling far away to appear for the exams become quite hectic, and exhausting too. It also adds to the travel expenses. However, online assessments give great flexibility and convenience to the learners. From their respective convenient places, they can appear for exams. They just need to have a good internet connection and a suitable networking device. This flexibility of time and place, makes students go for online courses for education purposes.
2. Help higher learners to continue education with work
Exams play an important role in our education journey. In every class or course, students have to appear for exams. In the case of higher learning students, they also start working, doing part-time jobs, internships, business, and more. Because of this, they face time constraints to take up physical classes and exams. However online courses and their online mode of examination have solved this problem. Now students can continue their work and education simultaneously. With a self-paced learning experience and virtual classes, they can appear for exams online. This makes sure students’ academic and professional success.
3. Reduces administrative burden
In conventional methods, exam conduction is quite a hectic process. Maintaining the exam centers, printing roll number sheets, distributing admit cards, question paper booklets, and answer sheets, and arranging the examiners becomes quite hectic. However, in the case of online examination, all this administrative burden has been reduced to a great extent. This is the reason why educators look for the best platform for selling online courses and being stress-free. The question papers can be formed and circulated digitally. This saves time, energy, and effort.
4. Faster evaluation and results
Checking the answer sheets manually and making report cards become a time-consuming process. In this waiting time, students face a lot of stress and anxiety about how much they will score. Also, their further admissions and courses stay in the waiting line too. However, online assessment can be evaluated at a much faster rate.
The autoscorable questions and assessments give students results and feedback immediately. Also, the stress and pressure of checking the answer sheets were reduced for teachers. This makes teachers go for the best platform to sell courses online, conduct assessments virtually, and grow in the professional field.
Types of online assessment
- Multiple choice question worksheets
It is one of the most used forms of an online assessment. Here students get a PDF or a google form including questions on the academic syllabus and subjects being taught. For every question, there are a few options given and students have to mark the right one. This tests students’ critical, and logical thinking. The evaluation and getting results are quite quick in this assessment method.
- Oral tests and online discussions
Other than multiple choice question tests, online instructors also take oral tests and conduct online discussions with students. Oral tests are usually one on one where teachers ask students a particular amount of questions virtually and give them scores based on the answers given.
Online discussions take place with a group of students where teachers give students a topic and ask them to discuss and share their knowledge, ideas, and perspectives on it. This is also a very convenient method of assessment. There is no need to reach exam centers, and from convenient places, learners can appear for the tests.
- Open-book test
Another way of online assessment is an open book exam. Here students are allowed to refer to their ebooks, course books, class notes, and other in-hand study content. Using this, students can answer the questions asked. This improves students’ higher-order thinking skills and in-depth understanding of course subjects.
Conclusion
With better flexibility of time, place, and convenience offered, online assessments are quite beneficial for educators and learners. Today online courses are most preferred by students because of the facility to appear for exams online. By reading the above-mentioned information we can make out the benefits of online assessments. Open book tests, oral tests, and online discussions are some of the forms of online assessments for students.