Marian College Kuttikkanam was conferred with autonomy on 1 June 2016. The 2016 batch of UG and PG students joined the autonomous stream and the academic progression of other batches continued to be under the supervision of the parent University. After the conferral of autonomy in 2016, within a short span of seven years Marian has emerged into a completely ICT enabled institution with reforms aimed at the qualitative improvement in the processes of the examination system. A fully computerized Examination Cell was constituted in 2016 itself with a Controller of Examinations and an Additional Controller of Examinations who are senior faculty members. A team of qualified staff were appointed to assist them. Over the years they worked in tandem to modernize the entire examination process and has speeded up the functioning mechanism of the system through IT integration.
The examination software of the College had been updated regularly and now it has been developed into a well-established and comprehensive Exam Management System where processes related to pre-exam, conduct of exam and post-exam activities are controlled and monitored by the Examination Cell. Now, a student can pay the fees and register for the examination by logging into the Marian portal named as mcka.in. Candidates are provided with individual log in credentials. Attendance is also marked online and students can verify their attendance details. Parents are also given permission to log in and verify the academic performance of their wards. This also helps to block the students with less than 75% of attendance from registering for the examinations.
An Examination Calendar for the academic year is published well in advance which is made available for teachers, students and parents. The complete schedule of examinations like commencement of continuous assessments (CAs), seminars, assignments, semester end examinations, publication of results etc. are provided in the calendar. LMS platforms are utilized for conducting CA tasks. Evaluation of these components are linked to the Programme Outcomes (POs) and Programme Specific Outcomes (PSOs). Students are given the opportunity to monitor their academic progression and the marks/grades of their CA components online. Strict adherence to the calendar is made mandatory for all concerned.
Board of Examinations are constituted for each programs with adequate representation of experts from outside the College. Question papers are generated online from the Question Bank prepared by the faculty members themselves. To ensure comprehensive coverage of syllabus and adherence to quality benchmarks both internal and external peer vetting is mandated before uploading the Question Bank. Faculty members are required to ensure that the questions are based on higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Time table of examinations are made available online well in advance. Notification of the examination schedule is published online.
At Marian, all processes in the conduct of examination like appointment of invigilators, allotment of examination halls, seating arrangements, issue of hall tickets, appointment of observers/squad etc. are done online. Hall tickets are issued to all students who have registered for the Semester End Assessment provided they have secured minimum requirement of CA scores and attendance. Students access their hall tickets from their mcka.in portal and produce a printout of the same before the invigilator. Students are also given the facility to identify the examination hall and seating position assigned through the mcka.in portal.
A malpractice prevention squad is constituted with a senior faculty as its convenor. The Examination Cell and all the examination halls are equipped with modern surveillance systems for enhanced security which also ensures transparency and accountability of the Marian examination system. The Examination Cell is also protected from unauthorized entry into the premises through bio-metric systems. An Examination Committee is in place to supervise the conduct of examinations and suggest improvements. The Committee also conducts enquiries into various complaints and handles requests for condonation of attendance norms. Reported cases of malpractice are handled by a duly constituted Malpractice Prevention Committee which recommends appropriate punishments to the erring candidates after hearing them and collecting evidence.
False numbering system is employed in valuation to ensure confidentiality and unbiased assessment. Bar codes based on false number are generated for encoding and decoding which makes the tabulation tasks accurate and easy. Valuation of answer books are conducted through camps arranged in the College. This ensures speedy valuation and ensures reliability of the valuation process. From the context of IT integration, one novel feature of examination at Marian is that the valuation of answer books are facilitated by the examination software. Answer books are allotted to examiners by the Controller of Examination based on the recommendation of the BoS Chair. The marks are given to each course outcome (not blanket marks to a question) and therefore the process ensures accurate
Marks are accessible to students and faculty through the mcka.in portal. Marklists are printed from the systemic data which is a very confidential process undertaken by the Examination Cell. The marklists are printed with about eight security features including the hologram and photo of the student which nullify chances of manipulation.
Results are published strictly in accordance with the dates given in the Examination Calendar. Revaluation requests can be submitted online which are honored within fifteen days. A student friendly practice of SAS (Save a Semester) for students who have failed to appear or failed in the examinations is in place by which these students can save a year. In deserving cases a re- examination is conducted for students who could not attend the examination due to participation in national/ international events or national parades etc. Grievance redressal committees function at the department level and College level to look into the various complaints of the students.
IT integration in the Marian examination system guarantees the confidentiality and accountability of its assessment process which is also an important component of credibility and success of the institution. The in-house software provides flexibility to incorporate autonomous curriculum requirements. The performance of the examination system, the results of each programme, feedback of students and parents etc. are regularly subjected to review in the meetings of the Academic Council and Governing Body. The areas of improvement are also identified through AAA. The suggestions of these authorities are executed promptly by the Examination Cell.
The Controller of Examinations prepares a detailed analysis of the results on a yearly basis. It provides valuable insights into the performance of the students with regard to each programme and allows a comparison with the performance of the previous years. This analysis helps the institution to redesign its pedagogical and evaluation strategies and identify areas of improvement.
Impacts of IT integration:
- Improved the quality of services rendered to the stakeholders.
- Improved the interactions between faculties and departments with regard to the conduct of examinations.
- Transparent examination system that can be gauged by students and parents.
- Less dependence on manpower and more productivity.
Cost- effective.
- More flexibility to incorporate innovations in pedagogy.
Timely publication of results.
