Introduction
All India Council for Technical Education(AICTE), has suggested some radical reforms in the form of 'open book exams for engineering courses', compulsory internships for students and training for lecturers. [News: November, 2018]
Highlights
AICTE believes that open book exams can emphasize problem solving, application of knowledge and higher order of thinking rather than simple recalling of facts. Assessment questions in open book exams can reflect real life situations that require comprehension, information retrieval and synthesizing skills of students to solve.
Affiliating universities and managements have been informed that courses or curriculum areas which are most appropriate for open book exams are to be picked carefully.
As per the new examination reforms policy facilitated by the AICTE , conventionally written examinations have a noteworthy shortcoming in that they tend to promote the superficial application of knowledge and rote learning.
Open book exams will be less stressful for students as it will be less demanding on their memory skills, the policy stated.
Like time-obliged examinations, open book examinations are planned in a way that enables students to allude to their class notes, course readings, and other endorsed material while noting questions. They are valuable in testing the abilities in application, analysis and evaluation, the reforms policy expressed.
Engineering colleges in Karnataka have commended the AICTE's suggestions saying universities had been demanding it for long.
AICTE has approved of an entire exam reform policy which incorporates open book exams. In any case, that does not imply that each exam ought to be an open book. It's one technique, which can be utilized wherever fundamental and conceivable. The entire exam reforms manual discusses distinctive strategies for assessment of students and not only routine rote learning exams. A few exams can, likewise, have questions dependent on memory.
Set questions that require students to do things with information available to them, rather than to merely locate the correct information and then summarize or rewrite it. The questions in open book exam must give weightage to application of knowledge, critical thinking and use of resources for solving complex engineering problems. As the nature of questions is to be complex, students should get enough time to solve, as the pattern of open book exam is different from traditional exam.
For mandatory internships, AICTE has finally recommended 600-700 hours of internship for BE/Btech students and 450 to 500 hours for diploma courses. Undergraduate students will earn 14-20 credits and diploma students 10-14 credit points. Students can also earn credits for entrepreneurial activity, project, work and seminar, stated the internship policy report of AICTE. The colleges have been asked to have a placemnet cell to help students arrange the internships.
Technical teachers joining new jobs will have to go undergo induction courses at the time of joining and will also need to update themselves every year through in-service training programs to be introduced by managements. Though these suggestions are not mandatory they are expected to help shape the future of engineering education in the country.