Online Exams: Helpful or Hurtful?

At universities across the country, college students have been using the internet on online exams, posing the question: Is the “covid generation” of college students getting the most out of their education?

Since March 2020, when covid swept the nation, college students were either required or suggested to take courses online, which meant exams would be administered online as well. The rise of cheating has many wondering if students are learning and retaining the information at their full potential.

After interviewing students and professors at Radford University, and following research from Hechinger Reports.org, it seems that concerns about students’ potential in the classroom are leading to questions about whether college professors should return to in-person exams.

According to The Hechinger Reports, websites like Chegg and Course Hero, designed to provide answers to tests, boomed over the course of the pandemic. Students use these websites to find answers on tests that other students have taken before. As online tests became the new norm for a majority of college students, they had access to websites like these to make their test taking experience easier.

The concern is, are those students getting the most out of the material they are learning? Dr. Scott Dunn, a communications professor at Radford University shares that there are some advantages to online test-taking, “I think the biggest advantage is allowing students to take the exam wherever they feel comfortable. Test anxiety is a major issue for a lot of students.”

When asked how he will help students remember that learning the material is most important Dr. Dunn said, “I think the most important thing is to understand what the professor expects from you. If an exam is online and open-book, there’s a good chance that the professor wants you to apply the concepts you’ve learned rather than just memorizing vocabulary, and you should keep that in mind as you’re studying.”

Jonathan Antin, a junior Geospatial Science major at Radford University says that on a scale of one, not at all, and five, definitely, his use of the internet to get answers on an online exam is a four. Jonathan is concerned that using the internet to get answers on his exams will limit his ability to learn all the material because he can type it into google and won’t retain the information. He knows that it’s an easy way to get answers correct without having to put much thought into the questions being asked on the exams.

When asked if he thinks using outside resources to help him pass his exams will affect his career in the future, Jonathan thinks that it’s unlikely. “I have access to all the information I need for my career,” says Jonathan. On many occasions, professors allow “open book exams,” where students are allowed to use their notes and textbooks on exams. Open book exams allow the potential for students to retain the course material they are learning because they are actively looking through notes and readings that they were required to complete.