Last week we reported on concerns surrounding mass in-person exams for students this year despite growing concerns about rising Covid-19 cases. While scheduled online examinations continued, Storm Barra subsequently resulted in some in-person exams being postponed.
We asked you to tell us about how you viewed in-person exams and whether they should be held this year. Third-level colleges and institutions have all insisted that when exams are held in-person, they are held strictly in-line with public health guidelines. The following is an edited selection of responses.
‘Insisting students sit in-person exams is careless and unkind’
“The university has forgotten than the education is important part of students life but is not the only part. Safety, health both physically and mentally are very important. The stubbornness to have students go in-person with cases raises is careless and unkind to the students and their families. Safety should come first, even if the university thinks the risk its low. Its not worth taking the risk right now.”
‘The risk is too high’
I do not feel that there is any need to have exam halls with hundreds of students when remote exams worked so well last year. The risk of catching Covid is too high.
‘Online exams - there’s no reason they can’t be held now’
As a student the fear or entering exam halls (even with safety measures in place) is enormous. Especially given the extremely high case numbers as of late and the fact that we will all be returning home to our families for Christmas. With a new variant rampant and Covid airborne it is undeniable that exam halls, holding 2 and 3 hour exams will result in Covid cases (even with safety measures in place) and in extreme cases, could lead to death if a close family member is to catch it at Christmas. As per NUI Galway policy lectures could only be held for 45 minutes before all students had to exit the lecture hall to ventilate it, what’s changed that now makes it okay to stay in a lecture hall for up to 3 hours? Pure online exams were held in the past so there is no reason they can’t be held now, for the safety of not just students but student’s families and vulnerable (terrified) relatives also.
‘Online exams are less stressful’
I trust TU Dublin and the Faculty to make the proper and safe arrangements if the exams are on campus. However, online and open book exams are less stressful while also minimising the risk of catching Covid despite the measures that are put in place for on-campus exams. The studying for the exams, the effort, remains the same whether closed (campus) or open book (online) for most subjects.
‘Online exams allowed students to demonstrate their understanding’
I am in my final year of a physics degree in Dublin. I have experienced online and in person (pre-Covid) exams in almost equal measure. When exams shifted online the focus (generally) shifted from being able to learn formulae, facts and answers verbatim to being asked to use available sources (class notes, books and the internet) to construct an answer. This allowed students the opportunity to double check their answers and demonstrate their understanding of the relevant material rather than their ability to memorise large chunks of information. The ability of students to adapt overnight to submitting their work online was unseen and the trust that universities placed in students to uphold academic integrity unmatched. Some will say that having your notes available during an exam makes thing too easy, but this is a double-edged sword - while checking definitions and formulae is allowed, you must be very mindful of your timing and not spending so much time looking for an answer that you cut yourself short on time elsewhere in the exam.
‘Colleges should revert to online exams on a permanent basis’
An exam should be a student’s opportunity to show off their mastery of a subject, not an exercise to make them feel inadequate if they can’t rote learn. While there may be difficulties associated with online exams, such as lack of broadband in rural Ireland, they out-weigh those associated with in person exams - cost-wise colleges have to pay invigilators and for paper, they are restricted by the number of sports halls available in which to run exams. In many cases, multiple subjects are examined in the one exam hall, and I have seen first-hand the inability of students to wear a mask for the 45 minutes to an hour of a single lecture. If people can’t do that, they most certainly will not sit through the two hours plus of an exam with a mask on. Furthermore, how many sets of hands will a single exam script go through on it’s way to the examiner - if an ill invigilator hands out exam scripts in a hall how many people do they risk contaminating or if an ill student is in a hall how could an infection spread? So yes, colleges should revert to using online exams not just this year, but permanently.
‘We don’t think that anyone’s safety can be assured with Covid’
I am a class representative of my course at MTU Kerry and the majority of us in the course have requested for exams and the remaining classes to be moved online due to concerns around our safety. The college has repeatedly refuse to do this, claiming that there is sufficient measures taken to assure safety - we don’t think that anyone’s safety can be assured with Covid especially, and we refuse to believe that these sufficient measures will be in place at all times, given that social distancing is not even adhered to during current in-person classes. The college also insists that students who miss the upcoming examinations will be able to resit them in March however, our issue is that some students may attend these examinations despite being a close contact or having Covid, due to not wanting to sit for repeat examinations.
