Analysis: Why public, private varsities are divided over online exams

Oct 30, 2020

Officials from public universities, whom New Vision talked to, plan to opt-out of end of semester examinations, and only hope the COVID-19 pandemic can end soon. 

Much as some private universities are set to conduct end of semester online examinations, the public ones say this will not be possible and students may have to wait for COVID-19 to get contained.

All universities (as it was with schools) were closed in March and seven months later, they have been re-opened for candidates and finalists. The Government allowed universities to offer online lectures and 50% of the 51 universities, according to the National Council for Higher Education, have made the switch. 

The online examination system is a digital platform that relays exams to students, which are later marked and scored by lecturers. In certain cases, the system scores the students.  In this case, students, from wherever they are, are expected to sit for examinations on their laptops, with software-controlled applications. 

Eventually, with online lecturing becoming the new normal in Uganda's universities, protecting the integrity of exam and exam data are becoming key areas of concern too. But experts and educationists say there is a way out.

Five private universities of the 25 total universities cleared to conduct online lectures have already had online assessment systems. However, most public universities say that online assessments are expensive, takings long to be accurate and credible and that most of their students do not have the required gadgets such as laptops, to effectively have all of them on these online assessment systems. 

Officials from public universities, whom New Vision talked to, plan to opt-out of end of semester examinations, and only hope the COVID-19 pandemic can end soon. 

Online examination embraced 

Some private universities have embraced online examinations; and these include ISBAT University, Ndejje University, International University of East Africa, Victoria University, and Clarke International University. 

Thomas Denish, the head of Quality Assurance at ISBAT University, explains that it is possible to do online examinations "if you have the right software". 

It is not just a matter of sharing the question paper online through email or WhatsApp. You need security features to ensure that there is no cheating of the examinations. The integrity of examinations, in our country's education system, is very important." 

He explains that to have the integrity of examinations, and to ensure all students are doing the examinations, calls for planning. 

Denish advises that it is important that every university checks the readiness of its students before subjecting them to online examinations. 

He says before such a system is implemented, it is important to ensure that all students have the required gadgets such as laptops with webcams and internet access. "The laptops should also be installed with software to stop exam malpractices." 

He explains that in their own survey at ISBAT, 10% of the students had an issue of lack of laptops and the Internet, which meant that a solution had to be sought for them. 

"We decided to get internet paid for by the university. Wherever students are going to do examinations from, we put them on portals, where we have pre-paid internet for them. But, they must get the laptops themselves."

"A good online system requires appropriate user authentication. Each user is given a unique username and a password (both encrypted) as defined by the system administrator or the higher authorities as authorized by the university," Denish explains. 

He adds that registered students, "Have rights granted by the system administrator to access course materials and attend specific internal assessments and semester-end exams. Registered instructors can add and update class notes, upload assignment questions, and prepare the students for exams."

The dean of the faculty of ICT at ISBAT, Dr. Sambasivan Gnanasekaran, advises that universities with online examinations get to embrace the exam cell system.
 
"It can set exam criteria such as duration, scheduling of exams, set question patterns, and deposit the university's question bank with appropriate access rights. Appropriate digital evaluation system (DES) is made available for certain sections of the exams and supplemented by descriptive evaluation by authorized assessors." 

He explains that a good system of examinations monitoring requires at least three layers of protection of the examination, "Which various mechanisms in place to ensure that there is no cheating." 

The Vice-Chancellor of the International University of East Africa Dr. Emeka Akaezuwa concurs with Denish and adds, "There are many online assessment tools which universities can build for higher education, some free and others subscription-based."

He also notes that it requires the use of good models to ensure that the different learning levels are tested and tested according to best practice.

At Victoria University, the Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Dr. Lawrence Muganga, says that the university has embraced open book examinations. 

We also do project work and students are expected to, later on, defend their work in face-to-face sessions. This would be used to replace the normal examinations we were doing." 

Alice Murungi, a student at Victoria University, says: "This is a better way of being examined. In universities, we should be scored on what we understand, instead of just recalling in an examination room; as it was in the past." 

 At Ndejje University, the Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Eriabu Lugujjo, explains that the university is already doing continuous assessments of the students online.  

He, however, notes that it requires having stable and reliable Internet, "Which we are already working on." 

He hopes that shortly, the university will also start online assessments for the end of semester examinations. He also hopes that gradually, all students can get the required gadgets such as laptops, which are essential for the running of online examinations. 

Lugujjo says that the university is still studying ways students can also be guided on accessing the required equipment.

Impossible move for public universities 

Several public universities have not yet embraced the examination of their students, in summative (end of the semester) examinations, based on a survey done by New Vision.

Much as they are determined to do a continuous assessment of students through course works and assignments, they argue that the prohibitive cost of setting up the online assessment system for end of the semester (summative assessments), might hold them back. 

They also argue that they have a big number of students who cannot easily be assessed using such online systems unless they are ready to massively invest in modern systems. More so, they argue most of their students do not have laptops and may struggle to get the required internet access. 

The officials of these universities that New Vision talked to say they are not set to handle end of semester summative tests, since they have no online systems set.
 
Makerere University, which has the highest number of students in the country as per the National Council for Higher Education records, says it may not easily assess students online.

Makerere's director of quality assurance Dr. Vincent A Ssembatya says: "Such online assessment systems are not easy to install for a big number of students due to costs, but also the concerns about the integrity of examinations."

"When you have a massive number of students like the ones we have, it also requires massive investment to be able to build such systems, and considering the time we have, we may not assess students online." 

Asked whether this means they will only lecture but not do the final examinations for all the continuing and new students, he said: "We will not assess students online. If COVID-19 does not go down or we have no ways of allowing all students back, we will lecture, but cannot do the final or end of semester examinations on an online system." 

"This will require us to have a massive investment, which we are not prepared for now. There must also be a gradual acceptance of the system by the users if it is to succeed. All this cannot be done as of now," he notes.

However, Ssembatya noted that continuous assessment like the coursework can be done online, but not the end of semester examinations, which take the largest share of the scores in the assessment of learners. He hopes that by then, universities will be allowed to re-open, or examinations will be postponed. 

At Busitema University, the in-charge of online learning, Leonard Wamakote, says that apart from continuous tests and assignments given during lecturing, "The university cannot as of now get into the investment into an online assessment system for students." 

He adds: "Even if the university secured the online assessment system, it would be a challenge for most students who do not own laptops. They need gadgets with cameras, to be able to secure software like that being used in some other private universities." 

He says it is important to ensure that all students have these gadgets, and access to the internet, "Before they are subjected to end of semester examinations." 

Government's response

The state minister for higher education, Dr. John Chrysostom Muyingo, says online examinations should not be an issue for only private universities.
 
"This is an issue we will need to address for all universities to ensure that no student is left behind. All universities which were cleared had first assured us that they were ready to handle the assessment of students. To my understanding, all public universities should also devise methods, which are authentic in ensuring students are asses."  

The executive director for higher education, Prof. Mary Okwakol, says that she is aware of the concerns from some of the universities, but also notes that these universities were cleared to switch to online, "After assuring us that they can handle those assessments. We expect them to find solutions to their concerns, but no students should be left out in assessments." 

Cost of effective online examination systems 

Dr. Vincent A Ssembatya says it is very costly to have effective and fully ambled online systems. He explains that a University like Makerere might end up spending about $20m (about sh74bn) to set up such a system. 

He explains that Makerere has about 4,000 course units and each of these course units must have its own application. He explains that an effective application, when fully set up, costs around $5,000. 

"As a university in a developing country, we have to use blended (physical and online) lecturing and assessment, as of now," he explained. 

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