The Current E xam System at SBU

1. The Current Exam System at SBU Presented by Viktoriya Strylets, Himchan Yun, Zeyou Niu, and Shannon Connors

2. In -Person Examination • Strict make-up exam policy • Time management • Highly Generalized • Fixed schedule

3. Make-up exam policies • “The time or date of a final examination may not be changed without permission of the dean of the instructor’s college.Because it is likely to cause conflicts or too many examinations on one day for some students, such approval is rarely granted.” • “Instructors are expected to accept an excuse of significant illness, tragedy, or other personal emergencies and to make reasonable alternative accommodations for the student. It shall be the student’s responsibility to provide sufficient documentation to support any such request. Accommodations for other reasons will be at the discretion of the faculty.”

4. External Influences on Exam Performance • Minor physical health issue • Common cold, not sleeping well. • Menstrual period: 80% of women experience period pain, in 5% to 10% of women the pain is severe enough to disrupt their life. • Mental state • According to Psychology Today, A 2013 survey of college students found that 57% of women and 40% of men reported experiencing episodes of “overwhelming anxiety” in the past year, and 33% of women and 27% of men reported a period in the last year of feeling so depressed it was difficult to function. • Emotional condition (minor factors that affects your mood) • Relationship break-ups. • Fight with friend or family member.

6. How can a late examination time affect a student's performance on the exam?

7. Let's have a minute of Cognitive Psychology! Every day the Human body produces a Chemical messenger in the brain called Melatonin. It tells the body when it is time to go to bed. Melatonin goes up at night, peaks while you are sleeping, and comes down in the morning. A scientific study of human brain confirmed that the most active time of human brain is in the morning and afternoon and when Melatonin kicks up at night, it can significantly affect our Cognitive Functioning

8. The study looked at morning and evening MRI scans and observed that mornings showed more connections in the brain—a key element to the creative process. A scientific study of brain circuits confirmed that creative activity is highest during and immediately after sleep.

9. Multiple Exams in One Day Typically, 5 exams are scheduled each day of Finals. If a student is not careful in their course scheduling months prior to this, they could end up with all of their exams falling on the same day. Having multiple exams in one day, especially towards the beginning of Finals means that the student has less time to study for each individual exam. All test-preparation advice involves spreading out your workload as much as possible, including SUNY’s own blog, but that is impossible when you have more than one exam each day, possibly for back-to-back days.

10. From the SUNY Blog Website This blog post encourages students to take breaks in their study sessions, but Stony Brook only allows 30 or so minutes between exams, most of which will probably spent cramming for the next test because the exam schedule does not allow adequate time to prepare.

11. TESTING CENTER Stony Brook University has a testing center on campus in Frey Hall to conduct online exams outside of class time. • Can only accommodate approximately 11% of students daily during Final Exam Period. • Number of currently enrolled students : 25,989 / 7 days of Examination period (Even Distribution) = 3,712 students per day. • TC contains (64 machines x 13 hours of operation) / 2 hours per exam = 416 students per day • Utilization Ratio : (416/3,712 ) x 100% = 11% • Less than 15% of Professors utilize the services of the TC due to many factors according to the Testing Service faculty

12. Our Proposed Solutions:

14. ExamSoft - online Examination Software Software designed to manage online assessments. Software will allow Stony Brook adopt an online examination system. Online examination systems seek to efficiently evaluate the exam partakers thoroughly through a fully automated system that not only saves time but also give fast results. The Online examination system helps to completely automate the old manual procedure of conducting exams. It also significantly eliminates the need for monitoring while the exam is being taken. All instructions are displayed to the exam taker before the tests begin. Some universities utilize similar softwares , by having the exam be proctored via the computer to limit academic dishonesty. Our additions to existing softwares : Facial recognition and Internet Access Control

15. Facial recognition

16. Student ID Card vs Facial recognition System Fgf Students must bring a form of identification to the examination. If students fail to produce this form of identification for whatever reason they will not be permitted to proceed with the examination. Fully automated!

17. Biometric facial recognition is evolving faster than many people realize! Just this year, Delta Airlines announced that international travelers flying through Atlanta’s airport can use facial biometrics instead of a passport. RollingStone reported that pop star Taylor Swift’s security team had tested facial recognition at concerts. And the National Australia Bank launched a pilot project that replaces ATM cards with facial recognition and a PIN.

18. Available Facial Recognition Softwares

19. Internet Control Feature Internet Control software that restricts Internet access and enforces web usage policies across network. This will eliminate any academic dishonesty that could occur during online testing.

20. Flexible Exam Scheduling With ExamSoft you are nottied toa specific time, place and professors’ or Ta's schedule in order to take the exam, therefore another idea becomes possible: Flexible Exams scheduling. Let the students schedule all required exams themselves! The student will have 10 days to schedule and take all required exams. They can schedule any of their exams at any day and at any time and at any order they want. The exam scheduling has never been as flexible and personalized!

21. Expansion of Testing Center 416 students per day / 3712 students per day = 11% of current enrolled students = Need more Testing Centers!!

22. Expansion of Testing Center Problem: Cost • (4000 students per day) / (400 students per day) * 64 machines = 640 additional machines • Desktop Price: $600 per PC * 640 = $384,000 • $384,000 +Rooms and building = $1,000,000++

23. Expansion of Testing Center continued • Realistic solution: Utilizing SINC Site Old CS: 30 PC’s Life Science: 25 PC’s Harriman: 30 PC’s CHE 432: 24 PC’s CHE 434: 21 PC’s Engineering: 39 PC’s Math: 45 PC’s Humanities: 25 PC’s Fine Arts: 43 PC’s Sports Complex: 24 PC’s ESS 24: PC’s = 330 PC’s in total https://it.stonybrook.edu/services/sinc-sites

24. Expansion of Testing Center continued • More! • Computer labs • Research and Teaching labs

25. Outcomes

26. Outcomes: • Accessibility and Flexibility • Cost saving • Time management • Statistical analysis • Stress reduction • Better performance of the students at exams. • Fair testing

27. Thank you!

28. References https://www.womens-health-concern.org/help-and-advice/factsheets/period-pain/ https://www.reuters.com/article/us-health-mental-college/mental-health-diagnoses-rising-among-u-s-college-students-idUSKCN1N65U8 https://www.stonybrook.edu/celt/services/assessment/testing-services/testing-center https://buffer.com/resources/the-best-time-to-write-and-get-ideas http://www.testbudha.com/advantages-of-online-examination https://it.stonybrook.edu/services/sinc-sites https://blog.suny.edu/2013/12/scientifically-the-best-ways-to-prepare-for-final-exams/