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A Novel Framework for Online Exams during the Pandemic of COVID-19: Evaluation Methods, Students' Priorities and Academic Dishonesty in Online Exams

Due to the emergence of COVID-19 pandemic, worldwide higher education tends to rely on online platforms and their primary education format is dynamically transmitted into the mode of online. The global use of online exams has suddenly increased. Although online exams actively contribute to pursuing academic performance in higher education, its emergency transition might have caused additional impacts. From the students' perspective, there may be conflicts with their priorities in attending online exams. Academic dishonesty is a leading challenge that emerged with the implementation of online exams. This study proposes a comprehensive framework for online exams as a timely solution for students' evaluation which determines the aspects of evaluation methods, students' priorities and academic dishonesty in online exams. The framework is derived from 512 responses captured through an online survey from the students at a public university in Sri Lanka. With the recognition of four main modules, the proposed framework provides an appropriate mechanism for online exams. With the use of ARENA simulation, the modules of the proposed framework were evaluated to determine its feasibility as well as to reflect the validity through the implementation processes. Further, the conclusion reveals that the proposed framework is capable of providing initial guidance for the higher education institutions adopted into online exams.