An education leader argues that the UK's exam system needs an overhaul to move away from "Victorian" paper-based exams. He advocates replacing exams with computer-based assessments and marking to make the process more efficient and less prone to human error. However, moving exams online would create needs for increased data storage and strong security measures to safely store all student exam data and backups in the cloud. Proper data storage will be vital for any transition away from the traditional paper-based exam system.

1. Data Storage To Be Vital If ‘Victorian’ Exams To
Be Replaced
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Ask anyone what they remember of school exams and the answers are
likely to be the same – row after row of desks in a large hall, where
everything would be done sat in silence with paper and pencils.
This has been the common experience of students for centuries, but
one leading education figure has argued that the system needs a
high-tech overhaul to move it away from these "Victorian" methods
of assessment.

2. Chief executive of the Independent Association of Prep Schools David
Hanson told the Daily Telegraph he wants to see paper and pen-based
exams replaced by a new regime based on both assessments and
marking taking place using computers, a point he will make this week
at the association's annual conference.
He told the paper: “We’re being forced to live with a system that we’ve
had for more than a century, with children being sat down on a hot
summer’s day and writing on an exam paper which is then dispatched
to someone who spends their summer holiday marking it,” he told the
Telegraph.

3. “That’s not necessary. It’s expensive and it’s subject to all sorts of
variables, not least human failure. That whole system is just out of step
with technology and I think it’ll be consigned to history soon.”
Of course, many papers are marked by computer but, as Mr Hanson
noted, not all are, while most exams are still conducted with pen and
paper. One exam that is not, however, is the Common Entrance test,
which is taken by private school pupils entering senior-level fee-paying
institutions.

4. The kind of paper that could be easily market by computer is the sort
where a multiple choice answer is selected, such as the Richmond
Tests used in the 1980s. These can simply be scanned for levels of
correlation with the correct answers. In the cases of written papers,
however, there are obvious human elements involved, such as being
required to read the handwriting of the student. Nonetheless, human
frailties among examiners are an issue too, Mr Hanson argued – too
much so to jeopardise the chances of a candidate getting the results
they deserve.

5. Carrying out exams on computers, however, creates two needs. One is
to have sufficient storage for all the data that will be created, while the
second is the critical issue of information security. Cloud computing
may help with both of these issues.
In the first instance, schools may not have the capacity within their own
IT systems to take on the extra data, before transferring it to the
relevant exam boards. The boards themselves may be potentially
overwhelmed too as thousands of schools transfer over their data.
Therefore, offsite backup may be needed to add more capacity.

6. The security issue is also vital. It will not be an entirely new concern, as
completed exam papers waiting to be marked could in theory be lost,
stolen or damaged by fire or flood. It is therefore important not to think
that this important matter will only exist if the information is stored in
electronic form instead of on paper.
However, there are good reasons for thinking electronic data storage is
safer. Firstly, any unauthorised persons wishing to access it for
nefarious purposes cannot get physical access to it, while the
encryption of data means they would not know how to get to it.
Secondly, it can be backed up more swiftly and easily by computer
than by the physical reproduction of thousands of papers by laborious
methods such as photocopying.

7. Indeed, having the electronic backup could help ensure the safe
storage of data in the event of any paper copies being damaged by a
mishap to the physical storage space, the kind of disaster recovery
contingency many companies will have in place for their commercial
operations if their hardware is damaged by calamities affecting their
offices.
With more companies using such data storage methods and other IT
innovations, it may be inevitable that, before long, the school
examination system will start to catch up with it. The examination room
of tomorrow may look very different.

8. Storetec News/Blogs."http://www.storetec.net/news-blog/data-
storage-to-be-vital-if-victorian-exams-to-be-replaced/" ‘Data
Storage To Be Vital If ‘Victorian’ Exams To Be Replaced.
September 23, 2013. Storetec.