The Role of ICT in Examinations Integrity and Security: Experiences from The Open University of Tanzania
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.61538/jipe.v8i1.171Abstract
Cheating in examinations at all levels of education is a global concern. It is unfortunate that it is possible to use ICT for both cheating as well as preventing it. The extent of monitoring and controlling ICT misuse so as to maintain examinations integrity and security is crucial. The objective of this study is to analyse the role of ICT in handling examinations at OUT. The Basic Classical Ethnographic research method was used through the present writer’s participant observations of 15 years. The observations revealed that the current use of ICT in examinations processing, administration and result dissemination at OUT has increased the examinations integrity and security to a larger extent than in the manual examinations era. The students get their results earlier than when hard copies were used to disseminate results. The study has come up with a model of ICT deployment for ensuring examinations integrity and security. It is recommended that it should be used by Open and Distance Learning (ODL) institutions in Africa in order to boost the quality of graduates. It is also recommended that all students who are about to graduate should be closely assisted so as to increase the number of graduates who study through ODL mode. E-examinations like Examinations on Demand (ODEX) should be used effectively. ÂReferences
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