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Education Privacy

Should Online Courses Film Students Taking Tests? (mypalmbeachpost.com) 97

Posted by EditorDavid from the beating-the-cheaters dept.
Recently the Palm Beach Post noted that 20% of the academic credit awarded at Florida Atlantic University is for online courses. So how can they stop cheaters? Where once it was enough for a professor to roam the aisles of a classroom, checking for cheat sheets and keeping an eye out for students signaling one another, proctoring today's tests often requires web cams and biometric IDs. A field of more than a dozen test-proctoring services has emerged in the past decade. Typically, the company gets some sort of visual on the test taker via a web cam and then asks the student to show the camera his or her ID. Other security layers can include software that recognizes faces or even keystroking patterns. The next step is to monitor the student during the test. In the online proctoring world, that is done in one of three ways:

* A remote but live proctor who watches in real time.
* A record-and-review method in which a proctor watches the testing session, but not in real time.
* An automated system, in which the software is programmed to spot abnormalities and flag them.
Honorlock -- one of the record-and-review outfits -- expected to proctor roughly 100,000 tests in the 2017-2018 school year, and promises schools that their solution also searches the web for copies of the test and automatically files takedown notices for any leaked copies, according to a link shared by Slashdot reader Presto Vivace. Besides filming students during tests, it also includes patented technology that "detects and prevents searching for test answers online from any secondary device." And it even verifies the identity of test takers using "any government issued" i.d. (like a driver's license or passport) or student ID which includes a photo.

One student complained on Reddit that "This seems crazy invasive and should probably be illegal," adding "is there anything passive aggressive you want me to say into the mic?" But what do Slashdot readers think? Should professors be remotely detecting searches on handheld devices, using photo IDs to verify identities -- and filming students taking tests?
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Should Online Courses Film Students Taking Tests? More

Should Online Courses Film Students Taking Tests?

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  • No different (Score:3)

    by AHuxley ( 892839 ) on Saturday August 11, 2018 @10:39AM (#57107104) Journal
    From students showing their student photo ID to enter an exam room and sitting down to do the exam in front of a person. Over a set time.

    • Re: (Score:2, Insightful)

      by drinkypoo ( 153816 )

      From students showing their student photo ID to enter an exam room and sitting down to do the exam in front of a person. Over a set time.

      It's different if you're being recorded remotely. A live stream to a proctor, on the other hand, is not different.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        It seems pointless, it's trivial to hide aids out of view of the camera.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AHuxley ( 892839 )
          The student ID and face will match the university student who is to be taking the exam.
          Thats a great step to ensure the person who took the exam is the same as who is on the student ID.

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by Anonymous Coward

      I like to take exams in the nude. I find it relaxing and I perform better. Total invasion of privacy.

    • I never had to show my photo ID to any of my teachers or professors. From K-Masters Degree.
      Even during physical tests there has been cheating. It is impossible for a proctor to catch all students especially ones with a plan to cheat.

      • I never had to show my photo ID to any of my teachers or professors.

        A photo ID is required for the SAT, ACT, and GRE.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Hadlock ( 143607 )

        I grew up in the surveillance era (late 90s) and had to show ID for many tests at the college level. Most tests were on a scantron or equivalent and the guy giving the test had never met me before so I don't know how else you would keep people from paying others to take the test for them. My ex was a twin and they got away with this stuff all the time, a friend of mine did online tests for others as a side business, it definitely happens and the people giving the tests have a real incentive to take basic st

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by AHuxley ( 892839 )
        Student ID with photo and every member of faculty for that course at the door to the exam room.
        People who where not in lectures, tutorials soon get noticed.
  • Professors and teachers and proctors get to watch people taking tests to make sure they aren't cheating. Remote? A video camera and microphone is to be expected.

    When you grow up, you'll learn about video conferences and industry certifications you can only take at certain test centers. So quit whining about the monitoring; if you don't like it go find a city dumb enough to try UBI and live in a cardboard box under a bridge.
    • I'd much rather have the option to take it at a test center, since I'm not feeding them video of my personal living space. Also, taking the test in front of a human proctor feels a lot more "natural" than performing for a camera where someone may or may not be watching you.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by rtb61 ( 674572 )

      One camera, are you kidding. A prepared cheating environment will have no problem getting past that requirement. Attendance at a testing centre is required, with photo id and a photo taken with it and the exam is recorded, anything else would be a scam like many of the online courses. It smells much more like a scam to get very poorly trained students past the exams to keep the bucks rolling it with new students.

      There should also not be just one exam, the idea is nuts, there should be preferably weekly or

  • If you want respect for that online course (Score:1)

    by Anonymous Coward

    You damn well better expect to have strict anti-cheating regulations.

    Nobody would or should respect any course where the student can have their uncle take the test with nobody the wiser.

    You shouldn't be concerned if you're among the 95% of generally honest folks. But there is a need to protect against the 5% of people who lie through their teeth and steal anything that's not bolted down.

    • I don't want respect from an online course. I want knowledge.

      • Re:If you want respect for that online course (Score:5, Insightful)

        by LordKronos ( 470910 ) on Saturday August 11, 2018 @11:42AM (#57107262)

        I don't want respect from an online course.

        I want knowledge.

        So what's the problem then? If you just want the knowledge, save yourself a shitload of money and just read the book on your own time. You don't need to go to college to read a book. So why even bother signing up for the course (online or otherwise)? I'm guessing it's because you want it to count toward your degree, but why bother getting a degree? I'm guessing it's because you want it to help you get a job, but if that's the case, why don't you just get your degree from some cheap hole in the wall that's even worse than University of Phoenix? I'm guessing it's because you wan't to get it from a university that most employers will actually RESPECT when they see it on your resume.

        • No, some people learn better when taught than they do from a book. (I happen to be the type that just reads a book.) But if everybody could learn from books alone, there would be no courses - just tests (to provide credentials for those who want them). So courses are meant, at least in part, to teach knowledge. Some people want a credential out of them, but others want knowledge. (Of course some want both.)
        • Don't make the mistake of thinking that everyone works for someone else. Many people work independently (and therefore don't need credentials - just skills). Others want knowledge for reasons other than making money with the knowledge.

  • Some already do (Score:5, Informative)

    by nehumanuscrede ( 624750 ) on Saturday August 11, 2018 @11:30AM (#57107228)

    For example:

    Masters Level Nursing Courses via the University of Texas ( Arlington ) require that you have a webcam enabled where
    you and your computer / desk are in full view at all times during any test. ( It is monitored in real time during the test )

    Before the test even starts, you will show your StudentID to the camera so they can verify you are who you claim to be.
    You must then pan the room with the webcam to show you are alone and that nothing is on or around your desk you can
    use to cheat. You are not allowed to leave the room once the test starts and you cannot talk with anyone.

    Even though you can do all of your coursework and testing remotely via the above method, the certification tests ( NCLEX )
    will require you to test at one of their approved locations.

    • unfortunate but necessary (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      Such snooping is insulting and unfortunate but necessary. Large scale cheating is widespread at tier one universities. ( I can personally document.) Not to stop it is to disadvantage the honest student and enable the rot that now consumes business and politics.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by davidwr ( 791652 )

      Do they give you the option of taking tests on campus or at a testing center, in case you don't want your privacy invaded?

      • Varies from campus to campus.

        If your University is local to you, then you can opt to take the test on campus.

        However, UT Arlington is about a twelve hour drive from here so an on campus test would be a bit rough :)

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Anonymous Coward

      And even with all that, it would be trivially easy to cheat if you wanted to. Absolutely trivial.

      So in the end it still depends on people being generally honest and wanting to get educated rather than cheat their own future.

      • It would.

        However, it would be a self defeating idea to cheat.

        You can probably cheat your way through the coursework, but you still have to have a mastery of the material if you want to pass the NCLEX test.

        At the higher levels ( Eg Nurse Practitioner and above ) you also go before a board to prove you know your shit.

        This, it's best to just learn it. Is easier for you in the long run :D

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Ogive17 ( 691899 )
      The part time student in my department described something similar with the online class he was taking.

      I'd have no complaints about it, just hope I don't go digging for gold while being watched.

  • If people want to cheat, let them cheat. It's supposed to be about learning, not about entry into some sort of exclusive aristocratic order.

    No one will value your institution's credential any higher if you take an extra step to foil cheaters. Most graduates of most institutions are mediocre anyway. You're not going to fool employers into accepting your credentials as the first and last word on someone's capabilities, regardless.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by AHuxley ( 892839 )
      The institutions that stop cheating will have better quality people to offer a nations work force.
      The more people who get great jobs after study, the better the "institution" ranks.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Kohath ( 38547 )

        No one will notice the difference in the graduates.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by AHuxley ( 892839 )
          Ensuring the person taking the exam is the person on the student ID is a great start to ensuring exams are passed on merit again.

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by Kohath ( 38547 )

            ok. But I don’t think they should bother. If you get someone else to take your test for you, then you didn’t learn the material. That's not really the school's problem.

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by AHuxley ( 892839 )
              The problem then is that such people stay in the education system and might get a "pass" by having other people sit their exams.
  • Cut a deal with one of those national "testing center" companies, and require students to sit for exams at one of their locations. They're not everywhere, but they're distributed widely enough that most students won't have a very long drive.
  • Just make the tests really hard, and make it open book and take home. Hell, that’s the way my electromagnetics final was in grad school. Take it home for three days, and team up with a partner. It was only 4 problems, and they were TOUGH.

  • I'm the Canvas admin (course management system) and the guy that integrates HonorLock, ProctorU and all the other LTIs we use - off hand, TurnItIn is the only other one we have designed to catch "cheating".

    We have an agreement with the other 28 non-research state colleges in Florida for in-person proctoring at on-campus testing centers. We offer proctoring on campus, and our online instructors can schedule entire sections or have students come in by appointment.

    I help faculty design courses. I encourage pr

  • Some thing that requires more than selecting an option or regurtitating something. or replace tests with projects, reports, etc. that requires original input.

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