BBC News: 'Online tests to replace paper exams within a decade'

[sonofsanta]

Compare and contrast with "Sorry PE Teachers, we're using the gym for exams"?

 

They've cancelled the January exam session now, so when it's exam time, PE can go out onto the sports field and enjoy the sunshine

 

(Less facetiously, they use the dining hall here, and that's only one lesson disrupted. You'd likely need to disrupt more than one IT lesson - and when you disrupt IT, you can't go anywhere else to use a computer. Places to run around are easier to find than places to go online.)

[Ephelyon]

They've cancelled the January exam session now, so when it's exam time, PE can go out onto the sports field and enjoy the sunshine

 

(Less facetiously, they use the dining hall here, and that's only one lesson disrupted. You'd likely need to disrupt more than one IT lesson - and when you disrupt IT, you can't go anywhere else to use a computer. Places to run around are easier to find than places to go online.)

 

One way to combat that is to go for bookable laptop/tablet trolleys so some access to computing resources can still be maintained even if you're not in a suite.

[localzuk]

One way to combat that is to go for bookable laptop/tablet trolleys so some access to computing resources can still be maintained even if you're not in a suite.

 

Except the maintenance requirements of a trolley are 10 fold that of a suite. At my last school, we have 5 trolleys across the site, totalling around 70 laptops. We had around double that number desktops in suites. Ticket load for problems was 95% laptops, 5% desktops.

[Ephelyon]

Oh true, but as an emergency substitute for IT endpoint access during exam time it's surely better than nothing.

[sonofsanta]

One way to combat that is to go for bookable laptop/tablet trolleys so some access to computing resources can still be maintained even if you're not in a suite.

 

How much is a trolley of laptops, £10-15k? To be used for 2-3 weeks of the year? You could use it for more of the year, but then people come to rely on it and use it as a full time resource, so then you needmore trolleys as exam surplus...

[Ephelyon]

They can rely on it full-time bar exam periods, having been due notice and understanding of this well in advance.

[nicholab]

This is going to require hire in of kit during exam times.

[Ephelyon]

That's another way, but could be expensive too and you haven't then got the use of it at other times.

[mthomas08]

How much is a trolley of laptops, £10-15k? To be used for 2-3 weeks of the year? You could use it for more of the year, but then people come to rely on it and use it as a full time resource, so then you needmore trolleys as exam surplus...

 

Plus it will need checking, maintaining and as you said others will start using it and wanting it all the time. So either way regardless of what product the school chooses it is more work and more cost. And the government will probably not even provide the additional funding for it. So Schools will have to cough up, IT Support will be even more used and how often will these exams expect an IT Support staff member to sit in on these exams? We know regardless of device there is always the chance of issues and exams can't suffer problems and must be smooth.

[Ephelyon]

Naturally, but it's just an alternative if the specific issue is how to continue providing some kind of access to IT kit if classes have to be turfed out of suites. There's no easy one and, yes, the issues mentioned will be incurred pretty much regardless of how the school proceeds there. Disruption is inevitable but there may be ways to minimise it.