Open book vs closed book

It was interesting to read the article, in the Deccan Herald dated June 29, 2012, on the CBSE considering to launch an ‘Open Book’ exam format for Class 10 and 12 finals, starting 2013.

This, I feel, is indeed a welcome step.

Every year, around February and March, there is always a debate surrounding the format of the exam —  on whether the exams should be an open book one or closed book one.  This is indeed a healthy debate, and a good starting point not only for examining the nature of questions asked, but also whether education should be concept-based or curriculum-based. Let us try and understand the two concepts and why they are not mutually exclusive.

Open Book exams can guarantee two things:

*It will put an end to the habit of “teaching” to the test.

*It will ensure that a lot more thought will go into the seting of question paper

An open-book exam will require much more effort on the part of a teacher.  Why, you ask?

The teacher will have to ensure that the questions test the understanding of the concepts taught, and further, that there are no ‘pat’ answers available in a textbook, which can be copied.  This might also go a long way in eliminating the process of rote-learning that closed book exams have fostered over the years.

This brings to mind an incident that I experienced during my teaching career in Canada.  One of my colleagues mentioned to me in passing that she had caught an Indo-Canadian student cheating. Since I knew the student and felt he was unlikely to be dishonest, I decided to look into the matter.

I asked my colleague if she had actually seen the student copying.  “No, but the answer is straight out of the book word-by-word,” she said.  I suggested that we jointly administer an oral exam. Accordingly I gave her the textbook and we asked the student a question.  Sure enough, he gave us the answer, verbatim from the text.  “I have never seen anything like this,” my friend exclaimed.  She then asked him a question which required some thought and he was confounded.

This demonstrated amply that the student did not understand the concept at all.  He was relying on rote to get him through the exam as he had succeeded doing in India. 

But I learn from news reports that the open book exam under consideration will not be truly to its nature, rather students will be told which section and which chapter the questions will be from.

There is a risk again of students committing to memory entire chapters. Rather than rushing into a system which might be worse than the existing one, the problem needs to be examined thoroughly and a system developed which not only fits well with a student’s mind set but also ensures testing his/her understanding of concepts.

In all parts of the world, professional development is a very important part of a teacher’s life. In Canada, where I taught for almost a decade, both the school and the teachers’ union allocated funds and time for professional development. The same can be applied here — schools can conduct meetings where test banks of questions requiring reasoning can be created. 

I also hope that these questions will not find their way to the “guides” market!  
We need a real change in our educational system at the grassroots level and it is initiatives such as these that will be the first steps in the long journey.