An effective way to manage voice assessments and oral tests

Manage voice assessments and oral tests
Voice assessments

Introduction

Education is transforming with online platforms. Nowadays, it’s imperative that educational institutions change their methodologies in order for them to keep up with the changing times and adopt more modern teaching methods. Voice assessments are gaining popularity, and wide adoption, lately, as a key method for learning and evaluation in the current context.

Voice assessments or oral tests are the tests wherein candidates are subjected to a carefully planned set of questions in the same order. The main aim of such tests is to understand and gauge the spoken aptitude of candidates, how they respond in real-time or on the spot, and more.

Oral tests are an integral part of elementary, and higher secondary education. Other high-level degree courses are also adopting oral tests and voice assessments as a part of their ongoing curriculum for assessing learners’ varied abilities. Oral tests are highly recommended for students with learning disabilities, development and coordination disorders, etc.

Conventionally, oral tests or voice assessments were mostly conducted in a physical manner. For instance – the test used to happen in a designated educational premise along with the learner as well as the evaluator. However, voice assessments are no longer restricted to physical premises. With the growth of digitally disruptive technologies, voice assessments can be conducted using online audio test platforms.

As there has been an increase in adoption amongst all levels across the world; oral tests too need not be held any longer on-site but can instead do so through Internet-based assessments which will allow students from different parts of countries to have access without having difficulty attending these examinations as well because they don’t require travel!

Now let us take a look at how those voice exams are conducted using such platforms –

The online platforms are developed using mechanisms that can help you to record voices. These mechanisms are robust and sensitive to voices. Thus, they can help you to record your voice efficiently.

These online audio test platforms have in-built features or mechanisms which can enable the candidates to record the audio. As soon as the candidate logs into the system, a question is displayed on the screen.

The oral question needs to be answered by the candidate by recording them using the features provided in the exam. The candidates need to start the recording, say the answers loud and clear, and then stop the recording as soon as the answer is recorded.

A similar procedure can be followed for the rest of the questions asked in the test.

Some of the online examination platforms provide a text-to-speech option that types the words spoken by the candidates on the screen. This helps the candidates to check if the answer recorded by them is correct or not.

As soon as all the questions are answered, the candidates can submit the exam for further processing. These answers are assigned to the examiners for evaluation.

The online examination platforms allow the examiners to log into the system, listen to the answers allocated to them for evaluation, and then provide the marks with the help of the options or features provided to them.

Using AI algorithms, you can also analyze voice assessments in an automated manner. System takes into consideration words spoken during a conversation in an audio file and comes up with a rating for the user. AI can also analyze skill based competency level of the users based on the performance in the audio assessment.

AI based voice assessment is useful to assess a large number of candidates in an automated, cost-effective manner.

The process of conducting such voice assessments and oral tests with the help of online platforms is as easy as it sounds. Such examination platforms can prove to be a blessing and very helpful for performing teaching-learning activities at all levels of education.

What are the advantages of conducting voice assessments or oral tests in the online mode?

Advantages of conducting online voice assessments

1. Increased Flexibility

Online platforms allow students to take the exam from any location, as long as they have an internet connection. This can be particularly beneficial for students who live far from the exam location, or who have other commitments that make it difficult to attend in person.

2. Improved Convenience

Online platforms make it easy for students to schedule and take exams at a time that is convenient for them, without the need to travel to a specific location.

3. Enhanced Security

Online platforms can provide enhanced security measures to prevent cheating, such as using proctoring software to monitor students during the exam.

4. Reduced Costs

Conducting exams online can be more cost-effective than in-person exams, as it eliminates the need for students to travel and reduces the need for staff to be present at the exam location.

5. Greater Accessibility

Online platforms can make it easier for students with disabilities to take exams, as they can be accessed from any location and can be adapted to accommodate different needs.

6. Increased Efficiency

Online platforms can allow for faster grading and more efficient scheduling, as exams can be graded automatically or by multiple graders simultaneously.

7. Improved Student Engagement

Online platforms can provide a more interactive and engaging exam experience, as students can use tools such as video and audio recordings to share their responses.

8. Enhanced Collaboration

Online platforms can facilitate collaboration between students and instructors, as they can share resources and communicate through messaging and video conferencing.

9. Greater Scalability

Online platforms can support a larger number of students and exams, making it easier to scale up or down as needed.

The schools, colleges, and the entire education sector were looking for virtual options that would work as efficiently as pen-paper-based exams and face-to-face oral tests which are usually conducted in the classrooms.

Online exam platforms can help candidates and educational institutes to conduct such exams from any remote location. Even if the examiner and the candidate are very far away from each other, the oral and viva tests can be conducted smoothly.

The requirements to appear for this exam are very minimal. These candidates will require an internet-based electronic device and a microphone. These online platforms can work even in case of limited internet connectivity.

The online platforms are very user-friendly, simple to operate, and absolutely error-free. Even the candidates are techno-savvy which enables them to record their answers and give the online exam like an expert.

Due to the online nature of the exam, the candidates and the examiners have the freedom of location but the examiners receive an additional advantage.

The examiners get the liberty of evaluating the audio tests anytime at their preferred pace and convenience. They can also hear the answer recordings multiple times if they wish to.

Some of the other key advantages of voice assessments include:

  • Allow the evaluators to gain a comprehensive view of students’ abilities, cognitive processes, and conceptual misunderstandings.
  • Offers the opportunity for interaction between the learner and the evaluator.
  • It also presents opportunities for clarifying ambiguous questions.
  • Can prevent academic integrity issues up to a certain extent.

How online voice assessments and online oral tests can prove to be convenient-

How voice assessments are convenient?

1. Viva competitions

The schools sometimes conduct competitions wherein the same question is answered by multiple candidates. As every candidate has a different thought process and perception of the question, the answers given by them would be different as well. Those answers will reflect their knowledge, analytical skills, and their attitude toward solving the problems.

2. School admission interviews

Some of the schools conduct interviews as a part of the admission process. They conduct interviews if a candidate wishes to transfer from another school. The school can gauge the knowledge gained by him/her in the previous school.

This will help them decide if the candidate will be able to adjust to the new school, teaching style, and the syllabus taught in that school.

3. College admission interviews

Many colleges do feel the need to conduct interviews of the candidates before giving them admission to their colleges. These interviews are based on everything they learned till that point in their education journey.

These interviews hold a lot of weight as the college authorities can check the capability of the candidates to cope with new and most of the time difficult syllabi which they would learn in the college.

Some of the MBA colleges conduct interviews of the candidates who apply for admission. These interviews are important as they give the institutes an idea about the knowledge acquired by the candidate while completing a bachelor’s.

With the help of these interviews, these institutes can analyze the future performance of that particular candidate.

4. Recruitment interviews

As we are aware, organizations and multinational companies also need to conduct interviews for recruitment purposes. These interviews are based on the skills they have gained, the knowledge, and the requirements of the job position.

These interviews are a must for the candidates who apply for the job. The chances of getting the job increase only when the candidates are able to clear these interview tests.

In all of the above cases, interviews can be conducted in the form of voice assessments with the help of online exam platforms. The interviews can be conducted online in the same way oral tests and competitions are conducted.

Such types of competitions or viva tests can be conducted by the schools to gauge if the candidates are able to communicate properly, if their speech is clear, and if they are fluent or not. These tests can also help the teachers to measure the candidate’s memorization skills, knowledge, and confidence.

The examiners can listen to the answer recordings, and evaluate them or they can even share the same recordings with the moderator if necessary. The candidates can appear for the interview, read and understand the question displayed on the screen and record their answers.

Even in the case of recruitment interviews, the interviewer or evaluator can listen to the answers later and gauge the candidate’s knowledge of the particular technology. Such online interviews can also help the interviewers to measure the candidate’s communication and analytical skills as also the ways to approach a problem and find its solution.

The interviewers can also share the interview recordings with other interviewers or peers so as to make a fair decision about accepting or rejecting the candidate’s application.

Thus, we can see that the online platforms which provide mechanisms to conduct online oral and voice assessments are indeed very useful for every educational institute and both school and college education.

Conclusion

Online exam platforms are creating a new digital revolution in the world. This revolution is certainly going to bring in some positive changes which yield wonderful results. It is not a surprise that educational institutes are increasingly adopting online examination platforms to conduct written and oral exams.

These institutes are embracing this change happily as they are aware of its advantages. They are familiar with the security and reliability provided by these online platforms while conducting online exams.

Eklavvya is an award-winning platform for conducting online exams. Eklavvya has been adopted by many reputed schools and colleges around the world only because of the best, most secure, reliable, and user-friendly features and mechanisms offered by the platform to conduct online exams.

Eklavvya supports both written and oral exams and also supports voice assessments. It provides the user with software that is easy and extremely uncomplicated thus making it one of the best available platforms for conducting online exams in the market.

What are voice assessments or oral tests?

Voice assessments or oral tests are evaluations where candidates are asked a set of questions orally. The main aim is to gauge the spoken aptitude of candidates, their real-time responses, and more.

How have voice assessments evolved with technology?

Traditionally, voice assessments were conducted in person within educational premises. With the advent of digital technologies, these assessments can now be conducted online using audio test platforms, allowing for greater flexibility and accessibility.

How are online voice assessments conducted?

Online platforms have mechanisms to record voices. When a candidate logs in, a question is displayed, which they answer by recording their response. Some platforms even offer text-to-speech options to transcribe the spoken answers.

It was a wonderful experience with Eklavvya for the last 3 years with regard to managing the ASSI online entrance examination. I would like to thank you and your team for your efforts and support. It was a well-organized exam and the ASSI Executive truly appreciated it.

saumyajit

Dr. Saumyajit Basu,
Association of Spine Surgeons India.

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