Degree colleges affiliated to the University of Mumbai (MU) are streamlining online softwares, checking for system errors and initiating measures to prevent cheating in the winter semester online theory examinations. Some degree colleges have completed conducting winter semester practical examinations and are now preparing for theory examinations to be conducted online starting from Monday.
As per MU directions, the online theory examinations of arts, commerce and science courses will be of 60 marks with 50 multiple choice questions (MCQ), out of which students need to solve 40 questions. The examinations, apart for the first year students, should be completed by December 31.
As this is the second session of online examinations after the recent final year examinations, degree colleges said they are working on minimising technical glitches and making the examination process student-teacher friendly. Ashok Wadia, principal of Jai Hind College, Churchgate, "We are working on improving our software and online systems to conduct examinations in a streamlined manner. We want to simplify the process of appearing for online examinations for students and help teachers to conduct examinations smoothly."
In addition, colleges said they have learned from the recent session of conducting the final semester examinations online. Kanika Desai, a teacher of an Andheri college, said, "We faced technical issues such as low internet bandwidth, longer time to load the question paper and website crash in the last online examinations session. Our in-house technical team is trying to rectify these glitches for the upcoming winter semester theory examinations."
Preventing copying in online theory examinations is a major challenge, according to Hitesh Malwankar, a teacher of a South Mumbai college. Malwankar said, "Students often try to cheat because there is no physical invigilation during online examinations. But, we are setting question papers in such a way that students won’t be able to refer to any other website and will have limited time to solve MCQs."
MU has also directed colleges to complete the theory examinations of engineering, architecture, pharmacy and Master of Computer Applications (MCA) professional courses by January 15, 2021.
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