ONLINE EXAMINATION AS AN ALTERNATIVE OF PAPER BASED EXAMINATION: PROS AND CONS

Abstract

The Corona virus has uncovered rising vulnerabilities in the field of education around the
globe. Considering the mounting worries about the spread of pandemic COVID-19, a large
number of educational institutions have been forced to close down concerning face to face
classes comprehensively. As a result, to cope with this unexpected situation schools, colleges
and universities are moving increasingly more towards web based learning or e-learning. This
shift in pedagogical medium is forcing academic institutions to rethink about the examination
process as well. It has been observed the most of the examinations are cancelled recently in
West Bengal as well as in India due to pandemic COVID-19. So, the online examination may
be an alternative of paper based examination. This paper conducts a comparison between
paper-based testing and online testing. Some selected students of undergraduate level from
Sarsuna Colleges were given a paper based and two online examinations with the same standard
of questions. There was a time gap of 15 days between the two online tests. Moodle learning management system (LMS) was used for conducting the online examination. The examinations were based on multiple choices (MCQ), fill in the blanks, short and descriptive type questions. Parametric and non- parametric tests are performed to compare the means and medians of the scores. The result shows that, however the average score of the first online test is significantly less than the paper based examination, but there is no significant difference between the second online test and the paper based test scores. This paper also illustrates the advantages and disadvantages of online examinations.