CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
- Background of the Study
Nicholas et al (2015) stated that as a result of the development of Internet technology, online examination has become an effective complement to traditional examination. It is a common knowledge that students are extremely prone to cheating under the traditional method, which could affect the fairness of examination. The pen and paper method of writing examination, which has been ongoing for decades, may not be pleasing for use because of the problems usually associated including examination venue capacity constraints, lack of comfort for examination candidates, delay in the release of results, examination malpractices, cost implication of printing examination materials and human fault (Fagbola, Adigun & Oke, 2013). The shift of examination as well as examination administration procedures from paper-based to information technology based processes necessitates substantial reorganization processes at universities. Administrative staff, IT support staff, lecturers and examiners as well as students have to adapt to and familiarize themselves with new examination practices known as online examination (Bauer et al, 2008).
An online examination system is an application that allows an institution to conduct examination via the Internet (or intranet). Various companies, institutions and organizations have opted for this method of conducting examinations, because it is quicker, easier and convenient. This system makes it easier for examiners to conduct exams and collate results. The application provides facility to conduct online examination anywhere and at any time. Today, most institutions are conducting their exams online to eliminate the bottlenecks associated with pen and paper type of examination. Technology has supported online examinations successfully for a number of years, and has progressively enhanced the process over the years to have room for more students and ensure a smoother online examination. However, one of the biggest challenges to online examination is cheating using technology.
Several researches exist that are related to the work reported here. The study in Zahiru and Rahman (2013) developed an online examination system that allows for creating a test from the question bank of the system and conducting Academic and Non-Academic examinations in English as well as Bangla. Similarly, Fagbola et al, (2013) developed a web-based online examination system to address some drawbacks associated with pen and paper method of writing examinations. The study in Nascu and Jantschi (2004) explored the development of Multiple Choice Examination System and Online Quizzes for General Chemistry. The paper presents the main aspects and implementation of an online multiple choice examination system with general chemistry issues for student evaluation. Security issues were also examined by some studies. For instance, in a paper reported in Adebayo and Abdulhamid (2014), the impacts, associated challenges and security lapses of the existing electronic examination system with the aim of ameliorating and developing a new acceptable e-Exam system was reported.
The manual writing method of examination looks unappealing due to many reasons. The problems included are malpractices during examination, delay in result generation, wastage of printed resources and errors occurred due to human negligence. Thus the need for developing a flexible examination model which is devoid of the above mentioned drawbacks arises.
- Statement of the Problem
Change they say is the only thing that is constant. But every change should bring about a positive development to the society. According to Fluck et al. (2009) educators must consider which assessment technique permit students to utilize the affordances of new technology. Paper and pencil test (PPT) or paper-based test (PBT) is gradually being phased out globally because of its limitations that have allowed widespread malpractices during the examinations.
The problems of PPT as enumerated (Alabi et al. 2012) are summarized below:
- Tedious processes as the examination was conducted at various and distant centres simultaneously and marking done manually.
- High risks of accidents during travels by both the examination officials and the candidates for the paper examination.
- Subjective scoring and plausible manipulation of results.
- Late release of results and missing grades.
- High cost of conduct of the examination on the part of the examination bodies including honoraria for invigilators, coordinators, markers, collators and other allied staff.
Abubakar & Adebayo (2014) observed that PPT assesses students only on cognitive abilities. They also noted that e-examination can be used to assess both cognitive and practical abilities.
1.3Aim and Objectives of the Study
The aim of the project is to design and implement a web based examination system for National Open University staff recruitment. The objectives of the work are to develop a system that can:
- Register applicants for the exam
- Set desired examination questions for the applicants
- Promptly mark the questions as they are being answered.
- Release examination result immediately the applicants answers the last question
- Send a copy of the result to the users email as proof.
1.4 Significance of the Study
It reduces the work load on the school management as the computer system performs most of the work, it reduces the chances or manipulation of results, Exam results are released on time, it reduces the cost of conducting exams as there are no invigilators to be paid for the exam. Computer and related technologies provide powerful tools to meet the new challenges of designing and implementing assessments methods that go beyond the conventional practices and facilitate to record a broader repertoire of cognitive skills and knowledge. According to Bodmann and Robinson (2004) computer-based tests offers several advantages over traditional paper-and-pencil or paper-based tests. Technology based assessment provide opportunities to measure complex form of knowledge and reasoning that is not possible to engage and assess through traditional methods. Other benefits includes; Precision evaluation through adaptive testing, where the next question to be posed is determined by prior response(s), Creation of digital records of student growth and development which can easily be passed along from grade to grade, Greater flexibility with respect to location and timing of examinations, Improved reliability because machine marking is much more reliable than human marking, Impartial assessment – computerized marking does not ‘know’ the students and so neither favour nor witch-hunt any candidate, Greater storage efficiency – tens of thousands of answer scripts can be stored on a portable hard disk of a server compared to the physical space required for paper scripts, Enhanced question styles which incorporate interactivity and multimedia, Question banks and randomization of questions and response orders to reduce cheating, Immediate feedback can be given to the examinee, Improved test security due to electronic transmission and encryption and it. Saves time and manpower for the test administration.