Clinical Officers Council (Coc) Pioneer Experience in Conducting Pre-Internship Licensure E - Examinations

Abstract

Introduction: Although University e - examinations started in 2009, Covid-19 pandemic popularized their use thus necessitating their evaluation. COC was among the pioneer institutions in Kenya to use the e - examinations to assess candidates sitting the preinternship licensure examinations in 2021. Objectives of the Study: The objectives of the study were to: (1) evaluate the adequacy of preparedness for success of remotely administered examinations, (2) determine the strengths and setbacks of information & communications technology (ICT) on e - examination administration, (3) evaluate the challenges experienced by proctors and test takers during the e - examination administration. Methodology: The study design was descriptive qualitative, involving all the 1984 candidates who registered for and sat the e - examination. Separate examinations were offered to the Degree and Diploma candidates, respectively. The 78 proctors and 12 superproctors were purposively sampled to ensure all examination rooms were catered for and the candidates were adequately invigilated in their respective locations across the country. The proctors and super-proctors were initially contacted through phone calls and emails and those willing to participate were requested to fill the google administered questionnaire that ensured confidentiality and no identification of individual participants occurred. Six ICT technical staff were available to offer technical support. The candidates and the proctors were adequately inducted through three mock examinations prior to the actual examination. Using Google administered questionnaires to ensure confidentiality, proctors, super-proctors, ICT team and the Digiproctor Examinations Management System (EMS) representatives and candidates were requested to give feedback after the mock examinations and teir views were collected and analysed accordingly. The webcam was designed such that super-proctors had full rights to communication and cameras that scanned the candidates’ environment but proctors had limited access to the same. Descriptive data analysis was then carried out and the results presented in appropriate tables and figures. Results: Despite various challenges, 77% of candidates succeeded uneventfully while the rest experienced unstable internet connectivity, inadequate computer literacy and anxiety due to e- exam environment non-familiarity. Among these, only 2.07% of the candidature results were cancelled due to gross misconduct with 84% of the problematic candidates having missed pre-exam instructional sessions. All candidates completed the exams in time with 65%, 16% and 5% within1-3 hours, < 1 hour and > 4 hours, respectively with the latter getting extra time for permitted reasons. Conclusion: E- examinations are cost-effective, time-saving and efficient provided appropriate infrastructure, preparation and invigilation are implemented. Recommendations: Although the COC e-examinations were successfully administered, adequate preparation, teamwork and back-up data transmission in case of power failure are mandatory. Computer literacy should be encouraged in training institutions to improve performance by candidates