Effects of Internet Access During Examinations

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.56059/jl4d.v9i1.632

Keywords:

assessment, examination, cheating, internet access, memory

Abstract

The scores obtained by students in examinations where internet access was allowed during the examination were compared with the scores obtained in traditional examinations where no assistance was allowed. These scores were then compared with those obtained in a standardised school examination on the same topic or subject, taken by the same students a year before. We observed that scores dropped by over 70% within a year of taking a traditional examination but could be significantly improved if internet access is allowed in the later examination. We further observed that scores in examinations where internet access was allowed were consistently higher than where internet access was not allowed. Finally, we report an analysis by rank and observe that student rankings change both over time and whether internet access was allowed or not. This leads us to suggest that use of the internet during examinations measures abilities that are different and more meaningful to our times than those that are measured by traditional examinations based on memorisation and unassisted recall.

Author Biographies

Sugata Mitra, NIIT University

 Sugata Mitra retired in 2019 as Professor of Educational Technology at Newcastle University in England, after 13 years there including a year in 2012 as Visiting Professor at MIT MediaLab in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. He is Professor Emeritus at NIIT University, Rajasthan, India.

His work on children’s education include the ‘hole in the wall’ experiment where children access the internet in unsupervised groups, the idea of Self Organised Learning Environments (SOLEs) in schools, the role of experienced educators over the internet in a ‘Granny Cloud’ and the School in the Cloud where children take charge of their learning – anywhere.

His interests include Children’s Education, Remote Presence, Self-organising systems, Cognitive Systems, Complex Dynamical Systems, Physics and Consciousness.

He received, among many global awards, the million-dollar TED Prize in 2013. Website: www.cevesm.com

https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8323-5731

 

Ritu Dangwal, NIIT University

Dr. Ritu Dangwal is Assistant Professor at NIIT University in India. She has a Ph.D. in Organisational Psychology and an active research record spanning over 20 years. Her interests include children's education, self organised learning, open and distance education, psychology and assessment. 

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Published

2022-03-15

How to Cite

Mitra, S., & Dangwal, R. (2022). Effects of Internet Access During Examinations. Journal of Learning for Development, 9(1), 129–136. https://doi.org/10.56059/jl4d.v9i1.632

Issue

Vol. 9 No. 1 (2022): ISSUE 1

Section

Reports from the Field

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