The Exam Monitoring Program Saves Students’ Time and Effort

UOB: The Exam
Monitoring Program Saves Students’ Time and Effort

 

25 November 2020

The University of Bahrain (UOB)
confirmed that using the “LockDown” browser to monitor the exams is
in the interest of students, as it saves students’ time and effort if any
defect in the device or an interruption in the Internet service occurs, as the
time is calculated after fixing the defect or reconnecting to the internet.

During a direct meeting with the
students, the Director of the E-Learning Center at UOB, Dr. Fay Abdulla Al
Khalifa, and a number of university officials reviewed the features of the
browser, how to use it, terms of use, and she answered students’ questions and
inquiries through visual communication technology.

The meeting that was attended by
more than three thousand students and a number of professors and officials at
the University, during which the Director of the E-Learning Center explained
that most of the problems that some students faced were because of their lack
of knowledge of how the program works, and that can be easily fixed by looking
at the instructions on the E-Learning Center page or through the instructions
provided by the Respondus exams monitoring platform, which is the owner of the LockDown
browser.

Also, Dr. Fay Al Khalifa
indicated that many students did not face any problems in using the browser,
calling on students who complained about obstacles to see the instruction
manuals, and to contact the student service center at the University or to message
the technical team of the company providing the system about their problem
through live chat or by opening a technical support card.

Furthermore, she stated that the
Respondus is one of the globally trusted and tested platforms, noting that the
LockDown browser has been used for more than 120 million examinations annually
by about 1500 institutions, a number that is increasing annually.

And she continued “Before
using the Lockdown Browser to monitor the exams, we studied the available
options, and found that LockDown enhances safety and reliability during
exams,” noting that “the Secretariat of the Gulf Cooperation Council
countries encouraged its use, and several universities in the region approved
it, including King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, King Saud
University in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and University of Kuwait, in
addition to its adoption in all universities in the United Arab Emirates by a
decision from the UAE Ministry of Education.

For her part, the Dean of Student
Affairs at UOB, Dr. Fatima Moahmmed Al-Maliki, explained that the University administration
is keen to create a reliable educational system, especially in light of the
exceptional circumstances imposed by the Corona virus pandemic.

Also, Dr. Al-Maliki stated that
the Deanship of Student Affairs seeks to help students who face difficulties, giving
a number of examples in which, the Deanship was able to facilitate for students
the obstacles they faced in all respects, and that the Deanship will continue
to do so in its work so that the experience of studying at UOB is always smooth
and exciting.

On her part, Director of the
Quality Assurance and Academic Accreditation Center at the University, Dr.
Luisla Paolo Federico, stressed the importance of relying on sound practices in
conducting exams, through an internationally accredited monitoring program to
achieve the reliability and quality sought by academic accreditation
institutions in the world, noting that the browser increases the levels of
safety and honesty in the electronic examination environment.

The meeting witnessed a positive
interaction with more than 900 questions and remarks, in which the Director of
the E-Learning Center denied that the program had a negative impact on the
anti-viruses, and she denied what is said about the browser disconnecting the
student of the pairing mode if they lower their heads when answering the
questions, noting that the exams have different requirements, as some of which
require writing mathematical equations, doing engineering drawings or others,
and some are written, so the courses’ instructors decide on that.

Furthermore, Dr. Fay Al Khalifa
said that the University allows downloading the browser for its students for
free, and it encourages students to download their study materials via the
cloud, to have enough space on the device generally and to work more
efficiently.

While on the damage that got to
some devices when downloading the program, she confirmed that some students
were under the illusion that their devices had been damaged, but as soon as
they followed the instructions they found that the solutions were very simple,
indicating that if the devices were actually damaged, then it is necessary to
contact the student service center to document these cases and take the
necessary measures to compensate these students through the Deanship of Student
Affairs.

 

Sustainable Development Goals

4 Quality education

17 Partnerships for the goals

 

Key Words

Respondus, LockDown, E-Learning Center at the University of
Bahrain, Quality Assurance and Academic Accreditation Center,