In this Bangalore college, give your exam through mobile

Students can now answer their question paper on mobile phones. And teachers can mark their attendance on that too. This is what Seshadripuram First Grade College, Yelahanka, in Bangalore told its students and teachers this year.

Even as schools and colleges across the country are against the use of mobile phones in classrooms, this college has come out with an out-of-the-box concept where students and teachers are allowed to use mobile phone.

Called as 'Interactive Platform On Mobile (IPOMO)', the college provides handsets (a common model) to the students and teachers, where games and messaging options are disabled. Instructions are given to students and teachers on using the handset. After the respective tasks are done, the handsets are returned to the college.

Started as pilot project for BBM and BCA courses last year, it proved successful for the college prompting them to extend it to other courses too. "The idea is to use technology in providing quality education," M Prakash, principal, told TOI. "When we started the pilot project, students were curious and attracted to it. Moreover, it's quicker and copying is not possible in this technology," he added.

To conduct a test, a question paper is set for each subject. Four answer options will be given for each question. Students will have to enter the correct answer. At the end of the test, the students can revise the answers and then click on the submit option. Answers will be recorded in the server and the marks will be consolidated. However, for a three-hour test, 120 questions are given. Students can also do the calculation using the calculator provided in the handset.

As for attendance, if a student continuously absents for three days, then an SMS will go to the parents' number. As for attendance, the teacher will be given a password. Once the teacher enters the password, he/she will get courses—section—subject. After this series, names of the students are displayed. After the attendance is marked, that has to be in the first 15 minutes, data will be automatically entered in the server.