Leveraging Technology Platform for Timely Conducting Online University-Level Examinations Amid COVID-19 Pandemic: An Experiential Narrative by Engineering Faculty From Western India

Abstract

India declared nationwide lock-down on March 24, 2020. The time was crucial for academic institutions usually bustling with semester-end examinations. This paper is an attempt by engineering faculty members to share their experience with the process of online examination amid the pandemic. The primary aim is to facilitate process documentation for the benefit of academic institutions in the developing world. It describes authors’ personal experiences, observations, as well as perceptions narrated by their colleagues and students during the overall process from orientation to conduction of online examinations. The results report the processes followed, implementation challenges perceived, faced and tackled for conducting online examinations, during the pandemic, under the sub-headings – planning for online exams, training of teachers and students, conduct of online exams, and implementation challenges and solutions. It is anticipated that this documentation will provide insights, to academic institutions in similar settings, about the processes, challenges and brainstorming ideas to overcome anticipated challenges within given resources and other constraints.