The need is to remove the fear of memory-based tests so that students start understanding concepts
There is a lot of churning on the higher education front. For one, Delhi University is checking for any discrepancies in the process of admissions to undergraduate and graduate courses. Secondly, Delhi University is conducting online Open Book Exams (OBE) for undergraduate and graduate students of four semesters. This is because the university is not yet offline and students are pressing for re-opening of classes after the tapering down of the coronavirus pandemic. Whatever the reasons that caused the university to re-evaluate its admission process and hold OBEs, the fact is both are progressive steps. One is in keeping with making admissions a fair and just exercise. The other is adapting to new technology even in adversity. The university, and for that matter all higher education institutions in the country, need not stop here but use the occasion to reform the education system. The focus is on revising the method of teaching. The OBE process leaves several hints at why the focus area is critical. In this mode, students take the exams remotely with no bar on consulting books and other resource materials. There are two issues. One is the presumption that the new system would make the students complacent and they would not study seriously, thinking they can copy from the open books. The second is another presumption that the teachers may not be adept at setting meaningful question papers and evaluating the answer sheets efficiently.
The OBE allows consultation of books, but is not a bookish examination. It is not an exam that encourages rote learning and superficial knowledge either. It is a method that challenges the students’ mastery of the subject, analysis and critical thinking. It requires a higher order of thinking skills. Unfortunately, heuristic teaching is still not in vogue in higher learning institutions in India. The concept of rote learning is carried over from school days. There is spoon-feeding and over-dependence on guide books. The pattern of teaching is changing but only because of individual efforts of some teachers. This is where the University Grants Commission and the Ministry of Education should step in, using the OBE exams as the pretext to introduce new teaching that enables students to research and discover things for themselves. A university cannot expect teachers to overnight devise question papers that challenge the examinees’ critical thinking abilities. Resorting to OBE as a quick fix solution can lead to avoidable issues about setting the question papers, in turn, affecting the performance of the students who may be lulled into a false sense of security that writing with open books is easy. Many countries in the west have shifted to OBE culture. In India there, discussions on the subject have not led anywhere. The greatest achievement of the education system would be to remove the fear of memory-based tests so that students start learning and understanding concepts with teachers acting more as mentors than advisors at exam time.