Can Technology Kill off the Exam?

By Colin Barras

从小到大，无论学习什么，人们似乎总是把学习成果与考试成绩相挂钩。不管考试大小，在人们眼中，一次考试成绩仿佛就说明了一切。有的人通过一次考试被公认为优等生，甚至能找到好工作；有的人却因为一次失利而被人们否认看低。我们不禁想问，这种测试方法真的科学吗？日益发展的技术能打破这种考试评优的模式吗？

Major exams are the bane1. bane: 祸害，烦恼之源。of many a student’s life. They represent a one-off chance to scribble months or years of learning onto paper, and can make or break future career prospects.2. 通过考试，人们数月或数年的学习成果一次性展现出来，未来的职业前景也由此打开或毁灭。one-off: 一次性的；scribble: 草草地写。The trouble is that taking an exam at a time rigidly set by the academic calendar has never been an ideal way to determine competence—they may come at the right time for some lucky students,but not for many others.3. rigidly: 严格地；competence:能力。

Perhaps it doesn’t have to be that way. As teaching begins to move online, we no longer need to wait until the end of a course to perform assessments4. assessment: 评估。. Instead, computer software can assess understanding during the learning process itself by analysing a student’s every mouse click and keystroke. So could we finally be able to get rid of the dreaded final exam?5. get rid of: 摆脱；dreaded: 令人畏惧的。

A better option is a system that allows students to advance at their own pace when they have mastered the material, says Julia Freeland, an education researcher at the Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation in San Mateo, California.6. Clayton Christensen Institute for Disruptive Innovation: 克莱顿·克里斯坦森破坏性创新研究所。This is called competency-based learning, and it requires tailoring7. tailor: 调整，使合适。the educational programme in a different way for each student. This is clearly something that teachers in a busy classroom may struggle to do. If course material is offered online, though, with the student’s input analysed automatically by computer software, students can be assessed individually—even to the point that the software can identify when a given student is likely to perform to their full potential on an exam.

Competency-based learning software is now being used both in high schools and in colleges across the US,says Freeland. The Virtual Learning Academy Charter School in the state of New Hampshire is one prominent high school example.8. Virtual Learning Academy Charter School: 虚拟学习学院特许学校，旨在通过高新技术帮助学生更好学习；New Hampshire: （美国）新罕布什尔州；prominent: 杰出的，卓越的。Western Governors University9. Western Governors University: 美国西部州长大学，是美国远程教育领域具有特色的虚拟大学。,an online institution based in Salt Lake City, Utah,introduced competency-based learning software in 2012. Arizona State University10. Arizona State University: 亚利桑那州立大学，是美国顶尖研究性大学，开创了美国高等教育新模式。made a similar move in 2011.

The idea behind the software is relatively straightforward11. straightforward: 明确的。. It takes information about the student’s activity on a course website—the pages they have visited and whether the student has verified that they have read a passage of text or watched a video, for instance—and combines it with data on the student’s performance on informal tests and quizzes to establish in real time how well the student understands a concept.12. 该软件收集了学生在网络课堂上的表现，比如他们阅读了多少页，是否读了一篇文章或看了课程视频等等，然后将这些收集上来的信息与学生在非正规考试和小测验中的成绩结合起来，由此判断学生对某一理念的掌握程度。verify: 验证；quiz:小测试。When that understanding reaches a predetermined level13. predetermined level: 预定水平。, the student is challenged with new concepts, or offered the opportunity to take a formal exam. Since this form of competency-based learning approach was introduced in some classes at Arizona State University, pass rates have reportedly increased.And Philip Regier, the dean of the university’s online arm, says there are now plans for doing “an entire degree adaptively”.14. dean: 院长，系主任；arm: 部门；adaptively:适应性地。

Some firms push the technology further. Their artificial intelligence software analyses the data collected to constantly tweak the way it presents new information to the individual.15. 他们的人工智能软件对所收集的数据进行分析，不断优化系统，为使用者提供新的信息呈现模式。artificial intelligence software: 人工智能软件；tweak: 系统优化。Within a few weeks, claim their makers,these algorithms can even identify what time of the day a student is most receptive to lessons in a given subject.16. 几周以后，软件的研发者表示：通过这些演算法，人们甚至可以了解到，学生在既定科目的课程学习中，什么时间段吸收知识的效果最佳。algorithm:（尤指计算机程序中的）演算法；receptive: 善于接受的。

It’s only within the last few years that technology has made this kind of approach to education possible, says David Liu, chief operating of ficer at Knewton17. Knewton: 一家网络培训公司，提供多种标准的考试培训课程，使用新一代网络教学平台进行互动教学。, an adaptive learning company based in New York. In the six years since Knewton was founded, online data storage has advanced so far that Liu says the firm now knows better than anyone how well its students are progressing.

However, students assessed by the likes of Knewton and Khan Academy still haven’t escaped the exam hall just yet.18. 然而，尽管Knewton网络学习公司和可汗学院这样的机构能够对学生的学习情况进行评估，但学生们仍然无法逃脱考试。Khan Academy: 可汗学院，一家非盈利教育机构，通过在线教学视频向全世界各地的人们提供免费的教学服务。For that to happen, well-established cultures in the school system would need to change. Fundamentally19. fundamentally: 根本上。, says Freeland, high-school exams are still required in countries like the US for school performance assessment. And professional certification exams, both for highschool-aged and college-aged students, remain an important way for employers to assess candidates.