CAMPUS | 16/04/2014

A Farewell to Paper. Marks Are Recorded with Tablets

THIS EXAM SESSION MARKED THE BEGINNING OF A TEST AIMED AT ELIMINATING PAPER, REMOVING THE RISK OF ERROR AND REDUCING FILING TIME AND COSTS. STARTING FROM THIS TRIAL ON A SELECTION OF LAW EXAMS, THE SYSTEM WILL SUBSEQUENTLY BE EXTENDED TO ALL EXAMS

Giorgio Almansi, a few minutes after 11am on Friday, 4 April, became the first Bocconi student to have an exam’s mark recorded with a tablet. The exam was Massimo Ceresa Gastaldo’s criminal procedure.

That was part of a test which will lead to substitute paper records of oral examinations and graduation marks with archiving via tablet.

“The substitution implies many advantages”, Roberto Grassi, director of Bocconi’s Academic Affairs Division explains: “less paper, lower risks of mistakes in reading and transcribing the records, minimization of document loss or theft risks, shorter recording time and immediate availability of certificates and diplomas, lower filing costs and even a better management of the examination by the professors, who access an electronic sheet with the student’s picture and relevant information such as the mark of the written examination, when the student has to pass both”.

The current test involves eight exams of the Combined Bachelor and Master of Science in Law, which makes the largest use of oral examinations, and is then posed to continue in the next months, eventually testing new features. Starting with the June exam session, when a mark is recorded with the tablet, an SMS will be sent to the student, in order to prevent any mismatching. Starting with the June Bachelor graduation a form of digital signature will be introduced, a necessary step in order to eliminate paper recordings. The same digital signature will eventually be introduced into oral examinations and the tablet records will go directly into the students’ academic history.

“Everything worked well”, Almansi, the first tablet era student, says. “Even in this test form, the usefulness of the system is clear. The process is smoother”. And when the paper records are no more, the benefit will be even stronger.