Open book exams in school by CBSE - A welcome paradigm shift
Open book exams in school by CBSE - A welcome paradigm shift
Open books exam – an exciting idea for the students. But is it really going to be that exciting and in the favour of students!!! The course would include case studies to judge their conceptual skills
For:
- Promotes analytical thinking as well as theoretical skill set
- Open book exams will enhance their researching capabilities
- It would also prepare and help them qualify for global competitive exams
- Apprentices will not be dependent on rote learning to clear the examination
- Though, the teachers may be excellent in their subject matter, they will have to re-orient themselves to deliver aptly
- This would also encourage the students to be aggressively active in the class discussions
- It would also encourage the students to think about the critical aspects of the subject matter while enhancing their critical thinking abilities
- With the help of discussions, students will learn to see the aspects from different perspectives and will learn to apply those theories in real life as well
- This would also help the teachers to do thorough research of the subject matter which is not only mentioned in the book but also from other sources like internet, other author books, etc.
- Open book exams would release the stress of students, which would help them understand the subject matter in a much better way and improve their cognitive skills as well
Against:
- Apprentices will no more be in the habit of taking stress, which could hamper their higher educational studies, as open book exams is not yet applicable for higher education
- This would also reduce the quality of education that India holds
- People in India do not adopt new things easily
- Our education system is based more on memorising rather than application as a result it does not equip the learner to face new challenges that arise in everyday life.
- The open book exam system would lead to lot of problematic implementation
- It would lead to unfair grading as every student will have a different viewpoint of the concept
- It will still continue to encourage rote learning as the case studies will be given 4 months in advance, hence giving it a faulty structure
- In the current scenario, teachers are thus far not equipped to deal with this kind of a system
Conclusion:
- As every coin has two sides, so does this open book exam system also has. The system should not only be applicable in schools but also in colleges as that would help them for their further studies as well.
- The apprentices as well as the teachers should be first trained for this system before implementing it practically
Discussion
- RE: Open book exams in school by CBSE - A welcome paradigm shift -Rishika Jalan (04/23/14)
- A new system of education has been recently adopted by the CBSE schools of following the pattern of open book exams in school. Such a decision has both positive and negative view points. Though some believe that this is a good thing as it helps in increasing the student’s analytical and comprehensive skills, others believe that it is not good for the future and should not be followed.
I personally believe that all subjects should not have open book exams. This releases the students from the pressure of tests and exams which might pose a threat to them later in their higher education. Learning for tests also helps in retaining information for a longer period of time and makes a student more confident about his study matter. Though the capacity of the brain is limited a few subjects like literature and environmental studies can have open book exams where students can increase their analytical skills but other subjects should have closed book exams to make them bright and more knowledgeable. - RE: Open book exams in school by CBSE - A welcome paradigm shift -Rajani Sharma (01/18/14)
- For
• Open book exams in schools are a good start in India’s education sector which will produce skilled and creative workforce rather than substandard degree holders.
• Such exams will help in testing the conceptual understanding of the students and will promote analytical thinking and research culture in higher education.
• This move by CBSE will discourage rote learning and formulaic teaching which has become a prevalent melancholy in Indian schools. This will bring the main focus of teaching on the skill of acquiring, modifying and creating knowledge.
• Open-book exams will enhance the quality of education by helping them to think out of the box and prepare students for a globally competitive workplace.
• By implementing this suggestion we can do away with the standard examination pattern. This type of examination will give a new insight into Indian education system by equipping students with the ability to acquire knowledge, to modify existing knowledge on the basis of new experience, to build new knowledge, and to apply available knowledge to solve problems and make intelligent decisions.
• Open book examinations can restore the true meaning of the word education for both teachers and students. This will make education an exciting and enjoyable intellectual adventure.
• This would also encourage the students to be aggressively participate in the classroom discussions.
• Open book exams would release the stress factor from students’ life, which would help them understand the subject matter in a much better way.
Against
• This step of open book exams by CBSE is neither practical nor desirable as some students would have an unfair advantage over others.
• This process is based on a faulty premise, that rote learning will be discouraged by implementing such step. But this is not true, as in the case of open book exams the case studies are handed out before four months of exams and this is most likely to happen that model answers will be prepared and learned by rote by students. Thus such half baked reforms are of no use.
• This implementation of open book exams is restricted to XI and XII. Thus it will have no effect on the Indian education system.
• This process has lot of problematic implementation and will take some time to be adapted by students and teachers.
• Students will no more be in the habit of taking stress, which could hamper their higher educational studies.
• This would also reduce the quality of education that India is famous for.
