Examination Day At Chula!

As a professor for more than 25 years, I've given many examinations to undergraduates, graduates and PhD students. In courses imparting basic knowledge, examinations are, in my opinion, a necessary evil. With the exception of mastery learning, a test of any kind (workplace or classroom) is not useful unless it discriminates. It must discriminate in the classroom on the basis of knowledge acquisition, not gender, race, social-economic class, country of origin etc.

Examinations can be in class rituals or take home, open book or closed book, a series of quizzes or a midterm and final, electronic or pen and paper, scheduled or unannounced. The format can be multiple-choice, short answers, essays, case-based, data driven, philosophical or fact based. The choices are pretty much left up to the instructor and her approach to instruction and learning. Class size, course type ( (survey, upper division, elective or required), type of program (undergraduate, graduate, PhD, Executive) are all factors ferreted into the professor's decision about the type of examination to give. Other factors include the professor's commitment to teaching, the time available to grade the examination, tenure status,availability of a grader instructional style and the importance of teaching evaluations also can have an impact on decisions.

In sum, as an American professor I am used to a great deal of freedom when it comes to examination design, administration content and timing (except the time of the final). I was surprised Wednesday to be greeted in the classroom I'd been assigned by a bow-tied gentleman who said he was my exam proctor. My first thought? What had I done that I was being proctored? (yes a little paranoid, I know). Was it because I was an American professor and didn't know how to do it the Thai way? Nah I thought. But then I learned differently.

There were prescribed procedures for giving examinations at Chulalongkorn. Before my arrival, he had affixed numbers to each desk-chair in the room. Extra chairs had been pushed to the side. I had ordered 32 examinations and there were 32 numbered chairs. On the projector screen at the front of the class were the rules.
1. Books and all materials at the front of the class room
2. Sit in the seat assigned by your class number on the role
3. Take care of bodily needs BEFORE sitting down. No bathroom breaks allowed
4. Begin as soon as you sat down

No students had been allowed in the classroom yet. He wanted to make sure I was satisfied with the way things were arranged. "Definitely", I said. "Most impressive." I thought to myself that they really take examinations seriously here.

In typical professor style, I had rushed to the office to pick up the photocopied examinations right before class. I had been given a sealed envelop and asked to sign for the examinations. I did. In the classroom, I finally opened the enveloped. Affixed to the front of "my examinations" was a one page note describing the University's rules on examine taking and the penalty for cheating. "Wow, I said to myself this IS a big deal here."

As the students arrived, he reiterated the rules about sitting in the right seat. He had a list of students with their chair numbers with him as he walked around. As the students moved into their seats, he gave them the eagle eye and a quick scan. I began to look too -- just to make sure no notes or anything. This was the first examination I had given in Thailand.

As I stated the rule to not put their name on the examination (only student number), he updated his powerpoint slide for the overhead project. Hmm good idea I think. Then I don't have to reiterate things 10 times. He did the same when I fixed a couple of typos in a question. Up on the slide the information went.

About 30 minutes into the examination, he grabs the list of students. One by one he stops by their desk and asks them to produce their student ideas with their pictures. One third of the way through, he stops at a student's desk. The young man said he has no identification with him. My proctor crinkles up his face. He asks again. Same response. No identification. The proctor comes back and tells me this is serious. He's calling the office. I tell him I know the young man is in the class but I don't know his name (embarrassing as it is, I haven't learned all their names and Thai names are long. But I know he is in the class, I say. The proctor leaves. I've called, he saying walking back in.

He keeps checking IDs. One young woman says she has ID but it's in her backpack. He nods to me and I give permission for her to fetch it out of her pack. She does and all is well. There are no more problems checking IDs. My proctor still paces. "I'm going to check again with the office. They said they were coming," he states, a determined look on his face.

Five minutes later, one of the administrators from the EBA program arrives with a list of students (and their pictures) in her hand. He motions to her and directs her to THE student. She confers with the proctor, finds the young man's name on her list of students. She looks twice at the student and nods. Whew, I say under my breathe. If the student wasn't anxious, I certainly was. I take a big sip of my cola lite to relax. While I am too far away to hear exactly what she says to the young man, it looks like a lecture to me. Out she goes, giving me a smile and wave.

The examination proceeds with no more hitches. The proctor puts a big computerized countdown clock on the screen. Boy, if you are an anxious test taker like me, that should push you over the top. But the students seem unfazed.

My proctor flashes one more rule on the screen as he tells students to leave their examinations on their chairs when they are finished. One by one they file out. The last three (some of my most vocal students in class) take the full three hours to do what I thought was a 2 hour examination. If you've got the time, why not use it?

After they leave, he carefully collects the examinations in reverse numerical number (highest to lowest number). Showing pride in his job with his smile, he hands them to me and tells me it has been a pleasure working with me.

After the examination, I sit and think for a few minutes. At first, I think that the Thai exam ritual is a bit silly, a bit over the top. But then I think better. I remember the few cheating situations I have experienced in my 25 years. While not many, they were time and anxiety producing for me. I gave those examinations myself. I had no second set of eyes watching with me. It felt really good having someone else there in the classroom with me to back me up. Darn right, I liked this process alot.

I thought about my colleagues as well as myself and cheating. I thought part of the problem in the U.S. system and probably many places is that we DON'T take examinations serious enough. We assume they have read the rules on plagiarism. We assume they know the university's policy on cheating. We assume they know what cheating is. But do they? There isn't a course in topic (although I suspect there may be some street learning on how to cheat).

But I now think that the Thai system is good. By enforcing a set ritual regarding testing, by restating the rules (e.g. coversheet on the test) and by having a proctor present, they signal everyone ( students, professor, administrators) that education and academic honesty are important.

As a Fulbright scholar, my purpose in being in Thailand is to learn, to teach and to exchange. On this day, I learned some valuable lessons from my Thai colleagues.