Students distracted by doorbells and cats
UKrant survey: online tests take too long
Door Paulien Plat
By Paulien Plat
The survey shows that 85 percent of students are reasonably happy to very happy with the online testing at the UG. Nevertheless, 70 percent of the respondents said there were issues.
Almost half of them feel the tests take too long. ‘All the tests, as well as the alternative assignment I did this block, were too long to complete in the time allotted’, one person wrote.
The survey also shows that many students are distracted by ambient noise. More than 43 percent of the 250 respondents said they were distracted by persons or things. ‘The doorbell rang…’ one person responded. Another student was distracted by their cat.
Stress
Various respondents said that the online tests are adding stress to an already stressful situation. ‘I felt panicky taking the test like this, because I’m not in an environment that makes me feel productive’, one of the participants in the survey said.
To prevent cheating, students are often asked to fill out a ‘student pledge’, respondents said, in which student promise not to cheat during the test. Approximately 80 percent of respondents said they’d filled out this pledge.
Nevertheless, it’s not watertight. Last week, it was discovered that twenty psychology students potentially cheated on their exam by discussing it in WhatsApp group chats.
On Wednesday, we’ll be publishing a background article about the UKrant survey about online testing: ‘Suddenly, my screen flashed a red error message’.