Coronavirus Lockdown: Exam software takes off in testing times

lockdown blessing

The coronavirus-induced lockdowns might have upended a whole lot of businesses but they have also provided an opportunity to some. Exam software developers fall in the latter category.

With online examinations set to become the new normal, developers are adding new features to their exam software to appeal to the expanding market looking for advanced security.

Littlemore Innovation Labs recently launched PEXA Lite, a device agnostic software, which will offer an 'exam–from–home' service with limited connectivity.

It has features like intelligent traceability algorithms to help identify acts of malpractices, time based questions and advanced data encryption features to prevent leakage of question papers or answer sheet manipulation.

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“Although PEXA Lite offers remote proctoring features (with Internet connectivity), we are now also offering a less intrusive but more effective digital proctoring feature, where student exam sessions are viewable only on exception basis. Only exam sessions of students suspected of malpractices need to be viewed and not all,” said Srikanth Ganesan Founder and CEO Littlemore innovations labs.

At present, the company is engaged in implementation of the product in 15+ colleges.

Experts in the industry estimate that the online examination software industry will see an immediate growth of 100-150%.

At MeritTrac, a testing and assessment solutions company, there has been an eight-fold increase in client queries and a three-fold surge in execution of projects during the lockdown.

"We have a 60-member technology team working on our online examination software. Recently, some of the security features have been enhanced and live proctoring has become more intuitive. We have also simplified the software interface for laymen's use for assessment," said Sinha.

MeritTrac currently has collaborations with about 30-40 universities and the company sees the number doubling by June end.

Sify technologies' online examination engine iTest has recently been upgraded with auto proctoring, remote proctoring and face recognition features.

"Prior to COVID-19, the company's major market was online examinations where the person had to visit a centre, but that segment has been affected during lockdown and will continue to see a degrowth," said Amit Goel, LOB Head, iTest, Sify Technologies.

Goel said all universities and schools that can afford the technology are looking for the solutions to conduct exams from home.

"Before COVID-19, we used to run after institutions. Now, they are asking us to give a demo or offer a solution. We are targeting a few universities but they are also in the evaluation phase right now. The market is there, but the shift will take some time,” he said.