"Do not start the test until you are told to get started…when time is called, put down your pencil and await further instructions. Does anybody have any questions at this point? Ok, you may get started. You will have twenty minutes for this section."
For those young readers out there, or anybody with a vague recollection of this mundane chapter in the drama of college admissions commonly referred to as the SAT Exams, these instructions should be a reminder of what precedes a multi-hour dreaded standardized examination. Almost every college-bound high school student has to take either this or the alternative in the ACT Examination. I had to take this test a few years ago. Following these instructions, a resonating sound of reselling papers can be heard as students try to make use of every second of the allotted time. Students would bubble in scantrons and work out problems on the booklet in old-fashioned pencil and paper. Find the answer? Fill it in completely on the answer sheet.
You might ask, what does this have to do with technology? Where’s the technology in my above introduction? Well, that is exactly the point. Where IS the technology in it?
In the general realm of academia, computer and technology-aided instruction has gradually been injected into the overall curriculum scheme. Instructors have used presentation slides for their daily lectures for notes, animations to convey visual concepts, and in all, have greatly enhanced the educational process through technology. Students have used technology largely in scientific laboratories, research presentations, and, among other things, of course in programming. And as such, the generations of kids growing alongside this advanced technology view the use of computers as an inseparable part of life from day one. Given this saturation of computers into every-day classwork, does restricting technology during the every-so-important examination make sense? Are classical examinations beyond their times, or are lack of borders in technology too insecure for a controller environment of the average test setting?
Currently, most schools offer the use of a mobile computer for special needs students as an alternative to the standard frightening Blue Book. As an alternative of writing on blank, college lined sheets of paper, these test-takers are allowed to start typing their responses. However, much similar to the ordinary student, the only use of the laptop is as a word processor. Researching any outside information is prohibited and special measures and software (eg. Examsoft) have been developed to curve any cheating.
Bill Thompson, reporting for the BBC, suggests that technology should be allowed not only as a general medium of turning in your test (as in submitting your answer, submitting your essay, etc.), but as an open gateway as an exam resource. "Giving grades for IT as a core skill is not nearly enough; we need to let them show what they can really do online" notes Thompson. "Perhaps it’s time we considered open laptop exams too, at least for some papers." In arguing that, he certainly points to the importance of technology as part of our daily lives today. If it is so important that perhaps a day without computers can cause severe repercussion in our daily educational or working lives, shouldn’t it be tested in these tests given to the young? In addition, he asks if we often use the internet as a valuable research tool, shouldn’t certain aspects of the examination test that as well?
My Thoughts: Old Exams to New Technology?
Drawing from my own experience, it is certainly nice to be on the student-end of the exam when you are allowed to use a laptop. Essay tests are not only exhausting mentally, but also physically. Sitting in the same chair for three straight hours resting my hands on small intervals of time is not my idea of fun, but the effect is further exacerbated when you cannot simply lay out all of your ideas onto the paper on time. Given no outside resources (as Bill Thompson suggested), if you have good ideas in your mind and you’ve organized it clearly enough, you are qualified to a high mark. Your grade should not depend on your inability to write fast or your incapacity to write beyond a certain number of pages.
Opening the internet with laptops during exams is certainly a step up and an entirely different scenario. We are all surrounded by technology today and I reiterate that it is so common in the lives of this current generation. Where libraries were once the treasure-chest of information, the World Wide Web has quickly become a more popular medium of information. Take for example — if you were to find the year that Apple originally released its famed iPod, chances are, you would "Google" search instead of digging through a book. How someone is able to seek the vast wealth of information on the internet should play as large a part as aptitude or knowledge today. However, should it be a part of an examination, such as an SAT® test? Should it be standard for Advanced Placement® or ACT® Examinations, where outside information is more useful? If these tests measure the ability of a student to perform in college, should these tests adapt to the current technology? I think so — and while this does not mean that the standard multiple choice or essay tests need to go (as Thompson recognized), I imagine testing and researching the possibility would be very worthwhile.
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