How Can Professors Detect Cheating On Online Exams
Exam cheating online is an increasingly serious problem that requires unique techniques to prevent. Students frequently utilize various tactics both prior to and during an exam to cheat.
These include gathering answers from family and friends taking the exam at home, using headphones with microphones to receive assistance from remote proctors, or offering bribes (Korman, 2010). Furthermore, technology may also be leveraged to obtain help.
1. Look at the Computer Screen
One of the primary strategies used to detect cheating on online exams is monitoring student computer screens. This may be accomplished either with video proctoring involving human monitors via webcam, or AI-based software designed to recognize suspicious student behaviors, such as video proctoring software. Another effective tactic for detecting cheating during exams involves blocking browsers which restrict students’ access to certain websites during an exam and can stop students searching Google or chat apps to discuss questions with other students during this period.
Students attempting to cheat by hacking into an exam’s code often do so by accessing multiple-choice questions presented as series of 1s and 0s that can be deciphered by those familiar with coding and programming. Software that recognizes code strings may help detect this form of cheating as well as identify correct answers within multiple-choice questions using analysis of this code.
Sharing exam content is another popular method for cheating at online exams, and can take various forms: selling it via formal braindump sites or simply communicating with fellow students through test prep forums.
To detect this form of cheating, it is crucial that a range of tools work in concert to detect, prevent and respond to security threats. These may include identity authentication programs which verify students and prevent impersonation; software designed to detect suspicious noises or devices; as well as software that detects unusual body language or noises that could indicate cheating; coupled with data forensic reports to identify cheaters so appropriate action may be taken such as invalidating test scores or taking legal steps against them.
2. Look at the Webcam
Students have long attempted to evade cheating detection using tape, vaseline and even wigs; however, these techniques are no match for modern online proctoring software. These algorithms utilize data forensics techniques during ID authentication before watching students take tests for unusual body language, web browsing or suspicious behaviors during testing – any such issues would then be flagged with color-coded probabilities of academic misconduct for professors to review.
Most online testing platforms feature live video streaming and audio monitoring capabilities, enabling a human proctor to monitor test-takers’ movements, listening, speaking, and movements throughout an exam. Some platforms even have “auto-proctoring” features which automatically forwards video and audio feed to be monitored by human proctors real time; other programs even utilize plagiarism detectors that will detect whether or not students plagiarized passages from another source during an exam.
Many students attempt to cheat on online exams by using prohibited materials or communicating with other test-takers during an exam. To combat this problem, some schools prohibit phones or devices during tests as well as requiring students to wear masks while taking part. Others mandate students stay on camera during an entire test without breaks (including bathroom breaks).
Students often attempt to cheat by sharing photos and screenshots of examination content online via social media platforms such as social networks. Professors may find this difficult to manage; however, professors can use various measures such as using DMCA-style takedowns on any illicit materials and asking students for evidence of identity before taking the test. Other measures could be implemented such as authenticating with phone codes sent directly from registered numbers as well as AI-powered proctoring software that detects other devices, noises or unusual body language that might indicate cheating behavior.
3. Look at the Student’s Eyes
Student can use their smartphone to cheat on online tests by recording video with its camera, then using editing applications like VLC Player to turn that footage into GIFs or MP4s – making detection difficult for a live proctor, however a locked-down browser that prevents students from running other programs or printing the screen may make this easier.
Students could also utilize smartphones as another method for cheating by communicating with helpers through instant messaging apps, social media platforms, or email services. While this type of behavior can be hard for a proctor or AI-based proctoring software to detect, certain programs can flag any suspicious activities and send them over for further examination by human proctors.
Some students might attempt to conceal a mobile device in their room or clothing in order to cheat on an online test. One student attempted using tape and beanie as cover for hiding a Bluetooth earbud so they could receive answers from a helper during an exam – this attempt was quickly foiled thanks to Alemira Proctor which can detect additional devices and unusual noises within classroom environments.
Data forensics offers another effective means for instructors to detect cheating on an online test, using response times and wrong-to-right answer changes from testing data as indicators that a student may have attempted to cheat during an exam. Psychometricians then assess this data in order to detect any dishonest behavior and formulate the best plan of action for that individual examinee.
4. Look at the Student’s Hair
Online students may cheat in various ways when it comes to exams. From accessing answers ahead of time or hiring another student to take their place on tests, such practices undermine exam validity and harm honest examinees alike. Furthermore, such actions could jeopardize license integrity – especially important considerations if individuals seek careers such as law or medicine.
Seating arrangements must be designed so as to prevent copycat examees from positioning themselves side-by-side or front-to-back; computer adaptive test delivery and active proctoring can further help counter this form of cheating; an assistant could monitor the exam room and look out for suspicious behaviors like frequent changes in physical positions and looking around to observe other examinees’ responses.
Some students may try to communicate during exams and tests by tapping their feet, fidgeting, coughing, tapping their pencils fumbling with them or turning pages in their test booklets – behaviors which might just indicate nervousness but could also serve as cover for cheating. Take particular note of students fumbling with pencils or turning pages of their test booklet.
Professors can utilize online proctoring programs that utilize either automated software that monitors students’ computers or live proctors to detect attempts at cheating, but this technology can often misinterpret innocent behavior as signs of cheating – for instance a student with dark skin may be confused for using their mobile phone to access Wi-Fi; similarly low income students have been flagged as cheating when accessing family’s home Wi-Fi, according to reports from students and professors alike. Furthermore there may also be bias against Black students as well as those sporting various degrees of facial hair from these types of programs.
5. Look at the Student’s Mouth
Online students may be more susceptible to cheating on exams than students in physical classrooms. Cheaters may use various means to obtain answers from other students and even collaborate during exams and quizzes, using traditional cheating prevention strategies as well as new digital monitoring and detection technologies to support assessment integrity in online exams.
One common tactic for cheating on tests involves students taking photos or screenshots of themselves during exams and sharing it with classmates taking the exam. Thankfully, image analysis software can detect suspicious behavior such as changes to head posture or mouth state that could indicate cheating. Another popular method for cheating online exams involves proxy taking–an increasingly common tactic which makes detection impossible until test begins.
One final way that students may attempt to cheat during an online exam is using mobile phones or other electronic devices to access information online, chat with classmates in messenger apps or call friends for assistance. Although such activities are difficult to detect in virtual classrooms due to AI-based proctoring software’s ability to detect unusual noises and devices that disrupt class, or body language changes. Students might use bathroom breaks as an opportunity to open notes or access family members for assistance during online exams.