The 100-year-old Osmania University will switch to online evaluation of answer scripts, and plans to do away with the conventional manual evaluation altogether eventually.
The university has tied up with a private firm to undertake the bar coding and scanning of the answer scripts of post-graduate examinations, which will be uploaded on to a dedicated server in the data centre located on the campus.
The varsity is starting with online evaluation of the 80,000 answer scripts of the MBA second semester examinations. The coded and scanned answer scripts will be made available online, at designated online evaluation centres.
"Using special IDs, passwords and OTPs, evaluators can access the 32-page answer scripts, and evaluate them and award marks. The marks on a particular answer script will be added automatically by the system and sent to the main server. 30 to 60 answer scripts will be given to the evaluators daily in phases. Once the process becomes successful, the online evaluation will be extended to all under-graduate and post-graduate courses. The OU administration feels that online evaluation will help the university announce results faster and without errors, and also curb malpractices. The new system will also help the university retrieve information quickly, unlike the traditional evaluation system. There are several other benefits too," Vice-Chancellor S Ramachandram said.
"In the manual evaluation system earlier, every answer script had to be coded by professionals, who are few in number. It was a time-consuming process. OU will be the first university in the state to introduce the online evaluation system," Kumar M, Controller of Examinations, OU, added.