IIM Sambalpur to conduct online exams for 1st year MBA students

When the Coronavirus pandemic strengthened its grip on the country, institutes across the country revamped their classes through online mediums. And even though we see the lockdown nearing its end, the pandemic is far from over. In view of the current scenario, IIM Sambalpur decided to conduct end term exams of first-year students via an online proctoring system. 

In this regard, a senior official at the institute noted that IIM-S will be the first IIM to conduct online examinations. Mahadeo Jaiswal, the Director of IIM-S stated that the end term examinations of the students of first-year were supposed to be held in the fourth week of March, but due to the lockdown, students were required to vacate their hostels and head back home. 

A direct implication of this was that the exams had to be postponed until further notice. However, the institute is not sure about when exactly the lockdown will come to an end and normalcy will be restored. And so, keeping the current situation in perspective, the authorities of the institute have decided to conduct end term examinations of first-year students in June via an online proctoring system, added the Director. 

This system will ensure that students can appear for tests at their homes in various parts of the country by logging in through their desktop or laptop. Around 100 students will appear for the end term examination. The Director also mentioned that this system of conducting tests via online proctoring enables more transparency in the entire process. In addition, Artificial Intelligence will limit the scope of human error during invigilation in the exam. Also, the handwriting of students will not be an issue and there will be no wastage of paper. 

Process of the online exam

As noted by the Director, the process of conducting online examinations is cost-effective. An amount of INR 2.5 lakh will be spent for conducting examinations through this online proctoring system. He added that third-party portal for online proctoring will merely serve the purpose of providing the platform to allow students to appear in the exam. The questions will be set by the IIM Sambalpur faculty and the answer scripts will be checked by them as well. 

The online proctoring system will ensure that each student is invigilated and monitored throughout the exam via an AI tool so that they aren’t able to use external help for writing answers during the exam. 

Also, the said interface will capture the retina movement of the students appearing for the exam. So, in case an examinee attends a phone call, the exam will get disrupted, said the Director. He further mentioned that IIM Sambalpur is henceforth planning to conduct all exams online, even when normalcy is restored and the lockdown comes to an end. 

Here is a list of other guidelines and information issued in the interest of students to better handle the lockdown:

• All colleges to open from 1st August: UGC issues guidelines for Academic Calendar 2020-21
• AICTE opens up 49 diploma, certificate, and skill-based e-learning courses for free
• AICTE guidelines: Affiliated B-Schools to commence classes from 1st July and new session from 1st August
• Indian Government offers Internship to IIMs, ISB, MDI and other B-School students to tackle Coronavirus Crisis
• The National Digital Library opens its doors with 3.8+ Crore books