Studying Online;Succeeding through Distance Learning at University

previous assignments. You can then refer to this when a new 
assignment is due. 
 
TAKING ONLINE EXAMS 
Even though you will be writing essays or reports, giving presen-
tations, or delivering posters, you will still need to do exams. Tey 

---

180 Studying online 
have not been eliminated entirely. Online exams are not like those 
you have undertaken in an exam hall. Instead, the paper is provid-
ed online, and you have to submit your answers via the Internet. 
Universities have taken a variety of approaches to online examina-
tions. However, two main ways have been used for online exams. 
Tese are: 
1. Timed exams 
2. Proctored exams. 
Timed exams are where the exam paper is made available on the 
VLE at a specifed time. You will then have a “window” of time in 
which to deliver your exam answers. Universities take a range of 
approaches to this. Some, for instance, will provide you with ac-
cess to the exam paper for several days, allowing you to complete 
your work over a relatively long time. Other universities provide 
the exam paper for several days, but you have to provide your 
answers within a specifed number of hours from the moment 
you download the paper. Some universities will provide the exam 
paper at a specifc time and force you to complete the exam in a 
particular number of hours from the moment that paper is pub-
lished online. 
Proctored exams are where specialist software is used in place of 
an invigilator. When you have taken exams in the “real world”, you 
will have had several invigilators in the exam hall. Tese are usual-
ly people who have no knowledge of the subject of the exam. Tey 
are merely responsible for ensuring all the exam protocols have 
taken place and that there is no cheating. In online exams, as there 
is no invigilator, it is easier to cheat. You can, for instance, look 
things up online or even go to your textbooks to fnd out infor-
mation. Some universities adopt exam “proctoring”, an electronic 
invigilation system, to avoid this happening. Tere is a variety of 
diferent methods of proctored exams. One, for instance, is where 
you are required to plug a USB device into your computer. Tis 
provides a diferent operating environment where all you can see 
is the exam paper and have access to something like Microsoft 
Word to complete your answers. Te USB device prevents access 

---