How Do Online Exams Prevent Cheating
Online exams offer more flexibility than traditional offline tests but may be harder to manage and invigilate.
Cheating can be easily accomplished during online exams if learners use screen capture software to share their answers with someone outside of the class, however this can be avoided by asking more complex questions that require more than simply remembering or understanding.
1. Use a Per Question Timer
An in-person facilitator or proctor can efficiently authenticate students and prevent them from impersonating others during an online test, but remote testing makes this harder to accomplish. Some students have used various tactics to cheat during remote exams, including fake identification cards and face swapping software; other individuals were able to pose as others by using video conferencing software or text messaging apps during an exam session.
Student exam questions have never been easier to obtain thanks to websites like braindump sites and social media; this makes cheating in an online test more likely. Educational institutions must take measures to reduce student cheating in an online exam, including providing more training sessions on exam question security and taking other precautions against plagiarism.
At online exams, several strategies may be implemented to prevent cheating such as setting per question timers, disabling backtracking, and requiring students to answer in order. This prevents students from skipping around or researching questions in order to find answers they already know; rather it forces them to utilize their analytical abilities when answering questions.
Other strategies used during online exams to prevent cheating include restricting the number of browser tabs that students can have open at once, disabling D2L pager functionality during exams, and employing browser lockdown software to limit access to other websites as well as keyboard shortcuts and mouse functions. Furthermore, using open-ended questions instead of multiple choice or true/false questions will help students utilize their analytical abilities instead of simply repeating what has been memorized by classmates.
2. Use Randomised Question Order and Answer Options
Instructors creating online exams may opt to make the questions and answer options random for each student, which can reduce cheating attempts by offering each a different version of the test than their classmates. However, this does not completely prevent cheating; students may still look up answers online or utilize other resources while taking an examination.
For randomized question order, choose the Question Randomization option in the Test Details menu. This will ensure that each student will experience a different set of questions with each attempt at taking the test. Answers for Ordering and Matching questions will always be randomized while Essay, True/False, Matrix, Open-ended and Hot Spot questions have the same order by default.
Use Answer Randomization to ensure each student receives unique answer choices for every question in your test, while Consistently Reverse Choices displays randomly either original or reversed orders for every test question.
One approach that could reduce student cheating on online quizzes or exams is designing them to encourage collaboration rather than memorize facts or recall specific details. You could also open book your exams so they have access to notes and resources while taking the exam.
Respondus also allows you to restrict what students can do on their computers during exams by activating its Browser Lockdown feature. This feature blocks certain D2L and computer functions during an exam period such as instant messaging or right-click mouse functions to prevent copying or searching for answers during an online examination.
3. Use Open-Ended or Essay Questions
Cheating can be hard to prevent as it often stems from peer pressure, fear of failure, and/or parental expectations. Cheating becomes even easier when students have access to technology which allows them to communicate with one another during exams and tests.
Educators can combat this issue by restricting the availability period for online exams and employing methods to make it harder for students to cheat on tests and quizzes. Instructors could for instance limit an exam’s duration to ensure it takes place in an undisturbed space with stable internet. They could also create multiple versions of an exam that randomly change question order and answer options so as to prevent students sharing answers between themselves.
Teachers must ensure that their students understand that cheating during an online exam will result in consequences, including punishments outlined by school academic integrity policies and consequences of cheating. They may ask students to watch a video that details this policy as well as signing an electronic contract stating they will refrain from any form of cheating during the examination process.
Finally, instructors can effectively prevent cheating by creating online exams with open-ended or essay questions rather than multiple choice questions. Open-ended or essay questions require students to think critically and write out detailed explanations rather than copy-pasting from friends or googling answers; thus ensuring students learn new knowledge rather than simply regurgitating old information they already possess.
4. Use Voice Detection Software
Online exams include several safeguards designed to combat cheating. These measures may include per-question timers, randomised question order and answer options, open-ended or essay questions and more – often these strategies can be combined together for maximum test protection.
Live Pop-In feature combines AI proctoring with human supervision. This technology detects cheating warnings through artificial intelligence, and when raised flags occur a live instructor will appear within minutes to supervise students in real time.
Voice detection software can also be utilized during online exams to monitor suspicious activities such as coughing, whispering and breathing sounds as well as keyboard and mouse movements in order to ensure candidates do not disclose exam answers to others.
Facial recognition software may also help detect cheating in online exams; such software can detect when students look away from the screen or make contact with someone nearby; however, this solution requires a camera and its accuracy may be questionable.
An effective way of catching students attempting to cheat in online exams is through the use of a safe exam browser, which restricts access to other apps or websites and blocks plugins and inter-app functionality like copy/paste between apps; prevent virtual machine use; block keystroke combinations that could access other apps; as well as right click options that could access other programs. A secure browser may also be configured to restrict screen capturing capabilities or enable full-screen mode during exams – making it more difficult for candidates to cheat.
5. Use Browser Lockdown Software
Universities and other institutions need to take extra precautions in order to prevent cheating during computer-based exams, which offer many advantages for students. One way of doing this is using proctoring software such as Respondus Monitor which acts like an online proctor by monitoring student activities during an exam and flagging any actions which might indicate cheating for review by humans before being passed on as fact.
Now there are other tools that can assist in the prevention of cheating on online exams. Apps exist which can block keyboard hotkeys commonly used for taking screenshots; similarly they can detect when students open new Internet tabs or access personal files during an exam and notify instructors of potential security breaches.
An effective way to combat cheating on an online exam is imposing a time limit, though this approach won’t prevent cheating permanently due to different examinees taking exams at different rates that depend on factors like language experience, personality traits and special accommodations.
Implementing a time limit may prove challenging for students using limited bandwidth connections to take exams. Any interruption or slowdown to an examination could become frustrating for those trying their best.