To close out the quarter: I lowered the points the final exam is worth, effectively raising the value of previous hands-on labs. I made it less cumulative and focused more on the things we learned from the last exam. I made an online exam with a time limit and randomized the questions and answers. Students can still cheat just not as easy. I stopped short of using the Respondus lock-down browser option. In my experience, it’s a mess. 15 different emails explaining why they couldn’t access the test. The variety of technology out their that students use is crazy. I’m sorry to say, the goal right now is to get people out the door, in a mostly fair an equitable way.
Starting the new quarter: I’m setting up all of my classes with more assignments and a lower percentage on exams. I’m in a tech program so I will utilize a lot of small group skills checks (demonstrations) , and utilize those as a higher percentage of the grade.
From what I’ve heard (in a totally unrelated thread), some software proctoring services have a way to monitor your eyes and can watch for patterns that might indicate you have a cheat sheet nearby. Might not work for math where you’re using scratch paper though.
I’ve also heard that some of that same proctoring software can’t be installed on a computer that has specific other software that would make cheating easy.
That’s what we’re doing this week – training the faculty.
Students usually pick it up quickly, since it’s simpler for them and they’re used to being online. Nearly all have smartphones, which should be sufficient to get through the term.
This is in a “professional exam" context rather than an academic one, but it may still be of interest. I signed up recently to take a Microsoft Azure certification exam. In the pre-COVID days I would have had to go to an exam centre in my nearest city, where I would have sat in a little room covered by CCTV as I worked. For obvious reasons, they’ve started running the exams remotely.
Signing up for the remote equivalent involved a lot of clicking check boxes on the screen to accept that:
I must be on webcam and microphone at all times
I may not leave the room (or even the view of the webcam) at any point without prior permission. If I do, I’m disqualified.
If anyone else enters the room, I must loudly and clearly send them away. If they speak, I’m disqualified. (In my head, this phrase is “I banish thee from the zone of examination! Begone!”).
I must have a clear desk with no bits of paper, devices or extra screens. Given that my desk is far from clear at the best of times, this is the most onerous requirement.
As well as being on webcam, I have to take a photo of the room right at the start of the exam and send it to the remote invigilator to prove that I’ve complied with the clear desk policy.
I have to install a software client which actually runs the exam. This must be the only running app on my computer while I take the exam. It can (so they claim) detect other running apps. I’m not going to test that claim.
I get why they have these policies and on balance it’s probably less hassle than trudging into town to do the exam, even if that were an option.
A language test I’m taking for a professional membership of an enormous organisation (the Institute of Linguists) will be done from home with my own webcam on. The institute doesn’t have to provide the webcams, so I’m not sure if scaling up is an issue.
They will know if you exit the online exam-screen page, so if you try to use google translate or online dictionaries you’ll get picked up automatically. (Physical dictionaries are allowed).
I took a masters course where you could purchase a textbook or use online resources. The exams were closed book and very difficult, with pass at 50%, a B at 60% and an A at 70%, and reported fail rates of 50% each exam. There is a cottage industry of paying people to monitor exams at many colleges and universities. These exams are just like in-person traditional exams, written simultaneously in hundreds of locations without devices, to discourage cheating. The remote school says which rules must be followed and local rent-a-teachers see that they are.
I think they’d notice that both in the photo you take of your testing environment and on camera. The mirror that would theoretically show your cheat-partner the answer would also broadcast your cheat-partner to the invigilators.
No, I mean, unless you HAD to have a mirror due to testing requirements, they would not know someone was standing behind your monitor. That person does not need a mirror to help you, a simple additional monitor for them to see would suffice.
And I’m sure someone could come into the room AFTER you take the picture of your testing environment. I honestly cannot believe that is even a thing.
So is cheating. My point is, if a person is going to cheat, all of those onerous anti-cheating measures are worthless. So there is little to no point in them.
As an aside, when I took my CISSP test recently, they didn’t even have a “test at home” option, presumably because they realized there is no way to prevent someone from cheating.
If a second monitor is banned, then how can your second person see the answers? It would be extremely noticeable if there were a second monitor.
With in-person testing it isn’t impossible to prevent every really determined cheat, either, but I assume you don’t think they should just be done away with.
You don’t think that would show up in the picture of the room taken right at the start of the exam? Maybe if it were completely out of sight… in which case, the cheat’s friend wouldn’t be able to pass on answers.
