Adapting Engineering Examinations from Paper to Online

Electronic examinations provide numerous advantages over traditional examination carried out on paper, such as more streamlined logistic and savings of cost, manpower and time. However, when solving examination problems in the field of engineering, the use of pencil and paper is frequently preferred to using the most common computer input devices, the mouse and the keyboard. The traditional paper approach offers the students flexibility in expressing their thoughts in a free form, experimenting and visualizing their approaches while working out their solutions. The focus of this work, which is in progress, is to modify and adapt certain aspects of traditional engineering exam problems to make them more suitable for electronic examinations. This allows the students to continue use the traditional tools of pencil and paper, but the electronic exam will extract the information needed for automatic grading, combining the best of both methods.