Online exams save teachers hours of marking and give students results sooner. They also mean your students’ answers, grades and personal details now live in someone else’s software. Before you choose a platform, ask these eight questions. The answers tell you a lot about how seriously a vendor takes your data.
Your school may also have specific obligations. Check them with your education regulator, such as KHDA, ADEK, SPEA or the Ministry of Education, and with your own data protection adviser.
1. Where is our data hosted, and can we choose?
Ask which country and cloud provider host your data, and whether a different region is possible if your policy requires it.
2. Who can see our students’ data?
Your data should only be visible to your school and the people you give access. Ask how the vendor keeps one school’s data separate from another’s, and which of the vendor’s own staff can access it.
3. Is our data encrypted?
At a minimum, everything should travel over HTTPS. Ask whether data is also encrypted at rest, and how backups are protected.
4. Will you use our data to train AI models?
Many platforms now use AI for marking or feedback. Ask whether AI features are optional, which providers are used, and whether your students’ work is ever used to train models.
5. How do staff roles and approvals work?
Not every teacher needs every permission. Look for roles such as author, reviewer and publisher, and a check before results are released to students.
6. What happens to our data if we leave?
You should be able to export your questions, results and records, and have your data deleted when the contract ends. Ask how, and how long it takes.
7. What happens if something goes wrong?
Ask how the vendor would tell you about a security incident, how quickly, and what they would do to fix it.
8. Is the software tested and maintained?
Exams can’t fail halfway through. Ask about automated testing, how updates are released, and what happens to a student’s answers if their connection drops.
How ExamUncle approaches this
ExamUncle is the online exam platform we build and run. Each school gets its own exam site, and its students, papers and results are only shown on that site, to the people it gives access. Staff roles and approval come before results are released, AI-assisted marking is optional for each school, and answers are kept on the device until they reach the server. The platform is covered by automated tests.
For our custom software projects, our security and data commitments apply: your data stays yours, hosting is in the region you need, and we never use your data to train AI models.
Frequently asked questions
Which regulator should UAE schools check with?
It depends on the emirate and school type. Examples include KHDA in Dubai, ADEK in Abu Dhabi, SPEA in Sharjah and the Ministry of Education.
Should AI marking be optional?
Yes. Schools should be able to choose whether AI features are used, and know which providers process student work.
