Abstract:

The purpose of this research is to develop a technology for taking a distant exam, which allows to make an objective decision in assessing the University students' skills and knowledge of a foreign language.
The objectives of the research are to find methods for collecting reliable information about the independence of students’ responses, the absence of "cheating" when performing test and written tasks, as well as choosing the most optimal video communication platforms for conducting an oral conversation from the point of view of technical implementation.
The research methodology is based on individual forms of work with students using specialized software, information educational platforms and video communication platforms. Traditionally, there are three forms of control in education: oral, written and test. In the context of COVID19 training conditions, it became necessary to organize completely remote work with University students, as well as the need to transfer the mentioned forms of control on the exam to a digital form. For this purpose, the University has updated and optimized its own platform for e-learning and interaction of participants in the educational process. In this regard, there is a need to combine and unify the methods of taking the exam online. Therefore, our research was carried out and allowed us to present a generalized technology of distant examination in a foreign language at the University using information systems of proctoring, checking for plagiarism and videoconferencing. The technology was divided into three main stages: oral conversation with the teacher, writing an essay (written form) and testing. The final assessment was carried out taking into account the level of completion of all tasks of the exam. 5872 students and 32 teachers of the University took part in distant examinations in a foreign language using this technology.
The oral form of the exam was conducted by a teacher using one of the video communication platforms. 43% of respondents showed that ZOOM is the most convenient platform for them, 26% used Skype, 31% used other platforms, as well as the University platform.
The written form, when a student answers the program’s questions in writing and then sends answer to the teacher, is the most popular form of control in the humanitarian fields. To control the independence of writing tasks, we used technologies for checking for plagiarism and computer programs that allow us to perform proctoring at the University during the exam. The time for completing the control written task was strictly standardized.
The most commonly used form of control in distance learning is testing, where students are asked to choose the correct one from several answers. When performing test tasks, the response time and proctoring systems do not allow students to use information in textbooks or on the Internet. This control is carried out online on the University’s portal.
The results of the research, based on the results of the developed technology and the conducted survey of participants of the distant exam in a foreign language, showed the effectiveness and optimality of a such organization of the exam. Thus, we were able to develop and apply the technology of the distant exam, which allows to conduct an objective, reasoned and reliable assessment of University students' skills and knowledge in the foreign language exam.

Keywords:

e-learning, assessment, evaluation, foreign language teaching.