Are E-Assessments The Future Of Assessments For Engineering Students?

Replacing traditional examinations with electronic assessments (e-assessments), also known as digital assessments, is gaining more popularity. However, it has become controversial as people have raised serious concerns about the limitations of these e-assessments, especially when the assessments have high stakes, like the end-of-term examinations. In this paper, we have evaluated whether e-assessments will replace the traditional end-of-term exams for engineering students in the future. Although this topic is equally valid for non-engineering fields, a few factors that make it unique to engineering are discussed. Different aspects of e-assessments are critically compared to paper-based (off-print) examinations based on existing literature and experiences from personal teaching practices to assess the suitability of these assessments. Furthermore, feedback is collected from students who appeared in the e-assessments to form an opinion on the perception of students about e-assessments. Finally, the factors influencing a shift toward e-assessments and the problems that arise from this are discussed to form an opinion about the future of e-assessments for engineering students.