A student goes through a plethora of emotions during his journey. They have uncertainty about the future, experience peer pressure, the anxiety of exams, and so on. Additionally, the pandemic has added numerous other hurdles to their academic expedition. However, with some innovative changes, things have started to come back on track. Institutions worldwide are modifying their infrastructure to teach & assess students online, which is excellent. The noteworthy thing is that appearing for online exams undoubtedly has its issues.
Let us see how & what students go through during online proctored exams & how to manage the exam stress.
Why Do Students Feel Stressed During Online Proctored Exams?
According to a study conducted by Jordan University of Science & Technology among Medical Sciences students, some interesting facts emerged. Around 1019 students took part in the survey & approximately 32% were experiencing more significant stress around online exams.
These were some of the most prominent factors contributing to the stress that students experience during an online proctored exam:
- E-Learning Platform Technical Glitch
- Internet Connection Issues
- Inadequate Support from Online Invigilation
- Complicated User Experience for Online Proctoring Procedure
Ways to Handle Stress During Online Proctored Exams
A closer look at the process will clear the confusion around the online proctoring tools. Contrary to the stress, students should feel safer & more comfortable during an online proctored exam. Intelligent online proctoring systems will help the students to sail through without a hitch.
Let us see how to mitigate stress during and around online proctored exams:
• Keeping Essential Instructions Handy
Institutions and remote proctoring partners can form an illustrated instruction manual for students. The manual should cover all the aspects regarding the exams & also need to be concise for efficient reference scanning. These manuals can be placed on the user interface for easy access.
• Running System Compatibility Tests
One of the most frequently emerging issues causing stress is system incompatibility. Schools, colleges & proctoring partners must ensure that each student’s system goes through a thorough check for any technical issues. Any identified glitches during these test runs should be fixed well in advance to avoid any last-minute unpleasant surprises.
• To Ensure Personal Privacy
Education institutions should ensure to use proctoring partners like Proctortrack, who provide freedom to use applications and alternatively browsers too. Several data-sensitive students do not like to install unnecessary applications into their systems. Theis dislike for the data invasion makes them nervous about using a proctoring solution that asks for permission to enter their systems. Hence, it is advisable to use a proctoring solution that has the option to operate over browser support for a safe & secure exam experience.
• Unbiased & Continuous Support From the Online Proctor
Having continuous & positive support from an online proctor throughout the exam is a great stress reliever for students. An online proctoring platform such as Proctortrack offers a live online proctoring feature with a human-in-a-loop approach. Such a facility gives students the confidence to attempt an exam as they get invaluable attention from an online proctor during their test timings.
• Availability of Practise tests
Just like any other situation, having the opportunity to practice something beforehand helps a lot. Students should be able to attend a mock environment to attempt their practice exams. Each & every technical feature & element should be available during such examinations. Being able to practice & understand the actual exam workflow can boost students’ confidence during the exams.
Why is Online Exam Better?
Rob is a bright student. He chose the biotechnology graduate program & was aspiring to build a promising career in this domain. Things went south & he had to help his family in a crisis. The boy was devastated as the only thing left was his final exam. Can you guess who saved Rob here? Yes, you are correct. The online exam took care of his entire year’s hard work. He was able to attend the emergency & also appear for the exam.
Some basic yet known reasons why Online Exams are better:
- A cost-effective solution viz a viz physical exam for institutions as well as students
- Wider reach helps more students to participate
- Transparent process using Realtime Analysis & results
- Provisions such as one-to-one invigilation help in getting undivided support
- Defeats logistical constraints
The Role of Online Remote Proctoring
Online education is a novelty in the academic domain. Somehow schools & colleges are learning to shift their methods toward this modern-day solution. While delivering education online needed special care, assessing the students for the same was another challenge. Well, technology answered this problem as well. Scientists & technological wizards developed intelligent solutions to make online invigilation possible. Also, their methods were not just making things possible but also more efficient.
Online proctoring is a technological wonder which made online exams more credible & smooth. Online proctoring services ensure that the assessment is real-time for any misconduct. On the other hand, these proctoring platforms also provided much-needed personalized support to the students for any & every issue during the test.
Online Proctored Exams: The Simpler Solution
It is high time to burst the mystery around the online proctored exams. If we evaluate the alternatives, having the liberty to appear for an exam from anywhere is a boon. Intelligent online proctoring solutions like Proctortrack can maintain the exams’ credibility without compromising students’ comfort. So to sum it up, students should embrace the online proctored exams for a more comfortable & stress-free exam experience.
