Open book exams just rock, don’t they.
I mean, maybe they should not be applied for all topics and specialties, but for IT students, I personally think most exams should be open book.
On the other hand, I don’t think anyone would feel comfortable having a doctor who sat through open book exams operate on them. No time to rush off and read through a bunch of huge books when you’re in the middle of a serious operation and your patient is barely hanging on.
Back to IT students, something that just crossed my mind is that soon they should start having Open Google Exams (or well just Open Online Search Exams) instead of open book ones, in which students get to search for whatever information they’re looking for online to reach the answer.
As I wrote before here, we’re more or less moving towards an era in which no one really needs to know much more than some core principal basics in a certain topic and how to search and find the information they need for the rest.
Basically any IT person today knows all the principles and ideas, but he’s always going back to references or searching online for complimentary information.
I think that should be taken into consideration when teaching IT students today.
This idea also reminds me a bit of a game show on Tunisian TV some years ago, in which the contestants were asked certain questions and had to use the internet to search and find the answers.
The idea was cool, but the problem is that it was all setup and the answers were already given to the people beforehand, or at least that’s what an insider told me.
Anyway, I think Open Google Exams would be cool and would get IT students, at least, practically ready for the work life they’re on their way to.
I agree with you, the mentality behind testing should change for particular fields of study. Like you said even professionals need to look things up, so why not train the students to look things up early on? Searching for info, at least in my opinion, is a skill which takes time and practice to develope.
On another note, I usually find open book exams harder.
i think that whatever you offer to a student, if he had no will and no analytic/search skills, what you offre is totaly useless …
i agree with omar in one point, mentality must change and only for tests, but also for all the differents educations steps/ways …
as an expert/teacher, all i see in the eyes of my students is “what’s the next step to resolv this problem” …