UNITED KINGDOM

Cambridge considers typed exams as handwriting worsens

The increasing illegibility of students’ handwriting has prompted Cambridge University to consider ending 800 years of tradition by allowing laptops to replace pen and paper for examinations, writes Mattha Busby for the Guardian.

Academics say that students are losing the ability to write by hand en masse because of their reliance on laptops in lectures and elsewhere.

The university has launched a consultation as part of its digital education strategy after piloting an exam typing scheme in the history and classics departments earlier this year. A similar scheme was implemented for first- and second-year divinity students at Edinburgh University in 2011.
Full report on the Guardian site