New Media Awards 2005 Weblog

Pupils may no longer be forced to slave over an exam sheet, pencil in hand, surrounded by a room full of nervous peers. Instead the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) is planning for students to take their exams digitally.

Advocates of new digital exams argue the traditional form of examination is archaic and inefficient. Students are left in agony awaiting their results while teachers review exams one by one and then send the papers to an eternity of transit. The flexibility of online exams will also allow students to take exams at their own pace and convenience enabling, many hope, students to reach their full potential.

Not everyone views digital exams so favourably. Some worry cyber-exams will tempt students to cheat using spell checks and the internet to find answers, a weakness the Educational Institute of Scotland (EIS) insists the SQA must safeguard against.

Teachers have offered a mixed review. Some favour a transition that would free their time from grading exams and allow them to concentrate their energies elsewhere. Others insist assessing exams is an integral part of their careers, allowing them to better learn what improvements and adjustments are necessary.

Either way, it appears the EIS does not plan to rush into any reforms just yet. Providing computers as well as staff training is a major problem and the SQA recognises the necessity of further research for the grading of open-ended questions. Although the SQA is slightly more optimistic, hoping to slowly integrate an online system with the one currently in use.

California researchers are attempting to increase mobility and communication of severely paralysed humans by researching the monkey brain.

A team headed by Richard Andersen at the California Institute of Technology is monitoring cognitive signals in the parietal reach region of the brain by implanting small electrodes into monkeys. The parietal reach region is located above the ears and transmits the desire to direct an action without actually committing it. During Andersen’s experiments monkeys were taught how to move a cursor on the screen by transmitting the thought without movement.

The aim of the study is to translate the technology for humans suffering paralysis and motor skills. A degree of research has already been completed on the use of information from neuron-coded physical movements for prosthetic devices. Researchers also hope the technology, once completed, will give greater insight into understanding other brain activity such as the desire to move one’s arm. The invention may even eliminate the necessity of letter boards and spelling devices.

Great advances have been made in the course of the experiment, the intended direction of a test subject can now be predicted by computers with up to 67% accuracy. Researcher’s are optimistic the technology may be ready for human trial within the next few years. Andersen’s findings will be published in the American journal Science later this week.