Google Testing: Students Using Search Engines on Exams

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Google Testing: Students Using Search Engines on Exams

May 1, 2015

THE RIGHT ANSWERS: Stumped on question four? Just open up your laptop and search for it.

Over at the BBC, Mark Dawe, Chief Executive of the UK exam provider OCR, proposes a near future where students could use search engines during GCSE and A-level tests. “Exams are for assessing what students have learnt, and we’re seeing youngsters use search engines more when they’re learning,” he says. And if tests increasingly are “not just about learning [information], but about how to utilize it,” search engines can help students prepare for thoughtful, complicated answers, like graphing calculators on math tests or open-book history exams. “You ask different questions” on a test where a search engine is allowed, Dawe explains: “It’s about interpretation, discussion, and application.”

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