The Need for Change: Making Exams More Effective and Relevant

I had a conversation with my sister recently about the educational system and how things have messed up so bad. She is having some challenges with her courses in Germany as she is studying for her masters in an engineering course. Her struggles in her German courses highlight some limitations of the traditional exam system.

She's expected to memorise and pour back the way it is all 400 slides worth of information, not giving her the chance to demonstrate her true understanding or application of the material.

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I encountered a similar thing while in school as most lecturers want you to pour back as it is in the material, thereby going through the rote memorization, and any mistake or distraction would make everything varnish from your head.

The worst of all is how lecturers would mandate students to buy their course materials, which is sometimes as boring as something else, it is always a criterion to pass their courses and in the end, it's all a waste. Most of the materials have no interesting things there and you must buy it, read it and pray you pass it, not giving room to research more online with technology.

This made me wonder: is this really the best way to evaluate or assess student learning? Shouldn't students be free and have flexibility in their learning, thereby allowing them to express and demonstrate their knowledge in the way they understand? Can't the use of technology be leveraged to make the examination more relevant and effective rather than relying on cramming/memorization?

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From my experiences and those of others, it is obvious that the educational system needs to step up its game to prepare students for the modern world and not the old way. By blending in more flexible and technology-driven approaches, we can move beyond the regurgitation model which has been outdated and focus on building creativity, critical thinking and problem-solving skills.

In my opinion, there are some changes that I feel when incorporated and focused on, students are being ensured of ways to tackle the challenges of the 21st century and even if they have access to their phones or the internet during exams, it won't make any difference; it all about finding methods and modalities to ensuring they aren't misusing it.

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The changes include:

Competency-based assessments: An example of this is where a student is required to prove his or her proficiency in solving some problems rather than just ticking a multiple-choice test. In this way, the student's mastery of specific skills or competencies is measured rather than limiting them because of age or grade level.

Project-based learning: This approach focuses on students learning to work on real-life problems and projects that demand their critical thinking, creativity and collaboration with others. One of the ways students learn is by doing and not just listening to boring and long lectures where most of them are irrelevant.

Technology-enhanced exams: When there are exams that require technological devices to be utilised, the process of assessment would be more efficient, effective and engaging. For example, a student completes an online simulation of a science experiment which demonstrates his or her understanding of how to apply scientific and lab techniques.

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