An interesting idea has been put forward that argues that one day it may be a good idea to actually allow students to use search engines during exams. This of course has a number of interesting implications and would certainly require a complete overhaul in the way exams are constructed.

Exams serves the function of examining somebody’s capabilities pertaining to a specific set of skills or a specific subject matter. It does this by testing you on two different areas; your ability to memorise relevant facts and the degree to which you understand those facts, their implications and potentially on how they can be implemented. If we were to allow the use of search engines and therefore knowledge databases such as wikipedia, you almost entirely eliminate the need to memorise facts, leaving only the ability to test based upon their understanding of those facts.

The arguments for and against basically stem from a discussion over how important memorising facts is, now that everyone has access to limitless information at any time. Those against will argue that memorising facts is still an important part of every role everywhere, while those for argue that this may not be the case, and knowing facts doesn’t necessarily indicate competency.