The paper titled "Online Exams in the Time of COVID-19: Quality Parameters" by Rizwana Wahid and Oveesa Farooq focuses on the challenges and strategies related to assessing students' performance through online exams during the COVID-19 pandemic. The primary research question revolves around how teachers can justify and maintain the quality of student assessments in a remote learning environment.
The study aims to investigate quality parameters for online exams, determine fair assessment methods during the pandemic, and explore ways to justify students' performance in remote online assessments. The research is particularly relevant in the context of the sudden transition from traditional classroom settings to online platforms due to the global health crisis.
The methodology involves a qualitative analysis based on responses to a questionnaire distributed among 50 female English teachers from two universities: King Khalid University in Saudi Arabia and Cluster University in Srinagar, India. The participants, who had varying levels of experience with online teaching, provided insights into their experiences with remote exams during the pandemic.
Key findings indicate that most teachers favored formative assessments to monitor student progress in online settings. Additionally, the study highlights a preference for a combination of objective, subjective, and interactive assessments, such as speaking tests and continuous evaluations, to ensure a fair assessment of students. However, a small percentage of teachers expressed skepticism about the validity of online exams, citing challenges such as cheating and the lack of genuine student engagement.
The study concludes that while various methods can be employed to assess students' performance in online exams, the effectiveness of these assessments depends on interactive teaching, the use of diverse assessment tools, and the support of educational institutions. The findings emphasize the need for live, synchronous classes and continuous formative assessments to ensure that students are fairly evaluated during remote learning. Moreover, the research suggests that institutional and governmental support is crucial for addressing challenges such as internet connectivity and access to digital resources.