The University of Nairobi (UoN) became the first public university to conduct virtual examinations, with a lecturer revealing details of the process on Tuesday, May 26.
The first examination saw 26 students pursuing a Master of Arts in Environmental Law and eight taking Master of Arts in Environmental Policy sit a four-hour exam.
The lecturer noted that it had been an open book examination, meaning students were allowed to refer to notes, summaries and other approved material.
She, however, broke down several other measures the institution had put in place to ensure credibility as they planned to keep up with their schedules despite the Covid-19 pandemic.
The students are watched during the entire duration of the examination, with an exam co-ordinator using video conferencing software to monitor them.
In addition, software tools have been deployed to facilitate the administration of examination questions to students at the right time to ensure students do not access the questions ahead of time.
Submitting of the assignments is also logged on a system and students must submit their answers before leaving the virtual exam-room. The exam coordinator, invigilator and director are all notified when exams are submitted.
"It is a very long process and we had to prepare students in time...It is an online, open-book exam whereby it is more analytical in nature.
"So whatever they are expected to do, the answers they are expected to give, the questions are analytical and they are expected to bring in their expertise in environmental law and policy to answer the papers at hand.
"We do note that some of them may really want to refer which is something that they will, but we are actually looking at them online, one by one.
"We have digital tools looking at the students, the invigilator, exam co-ordinator and exam director are all looking at the students and what they're doing. So we are sure that it is credibly being carried out," she asserted.
She observed that students had welcomed the online exams, having been preceded by online classes when the pandemic set in.
"With the pandemic, we needed to make sure that our programmes at the university ran as scheduled and we are glad that the students were very receptive.
"They came on board, we finalised our online classes and here we are, we are now doing our online exams. All of them have been very enthusiastic and very receptive to continue with online learning and online exams. We are happy that this will actually continue in the event we are still in the pandemic but I hope it ends soon," she stated.
Watch a video on the virtual exams below:
