How To Conduct Online Exam Without Cheating
Online exams present students with a new challenge when it comes to maintaining academic integrity. Cheating during online tests is a common occurrence and many do not consider their actions harmful or unethical.
Students taking online exams now have access to new gadgets and modern technologies that make cheating much simpler than in traditional in-person tests. With just a few steps hidden hardware or software can easily be added onto computers for cheating purposes.
1. Require students to sign a contract
As online testing becomes more sophisticated, students have become more sophisticated in their efforts to cheat. While jotting down math formulas on palms used to be common practice, modern students employ everything from Google search results and micro earpieces for conduct exam heists.
To successfully combat cheating during online exams, it’s critical that your students clearly understand what constitutes academic dishonesty. Implementing an academic integrity policy into their course syllabus along with an on-screen reminder video can ensure they know what expectations to expect before an exam begins and more easily understand whether their behaviors could constitute cheating.
Requiring students to sign a contract before taking an online exam can also reduce cheating risks during an exam, using tools within your LMS such as Brightspace’s Lockdown Browser or TopHat’s Proctoring software. Such tools will restrict student access to other websites on their device, disable keyboard functions and notify live remote proctors if an attempt at cheating occurs by detecting specific keywords and phrases.
At an online exam, another way to limit cheating is giving students limited time for each question they are given to answer. This will discourage them from spending excessive time researching answers or consulting with classmates before responding with knowledge from memory alone. Furthermore, forcing students to answer one question at a time helps prevent backtracking; which is a popular tactic used by students when searching for answers online exams.
2. Require students to sign in to the exam
Online testing can be difficult to administer when students cheating; technology solutions exist but can be prohibitively costly and cumbersome to implement. Luckily, there are other less expensive and simpler approaches available that can stop online exam cheating.
One way to prevent online exam cheating is requiring students to sign in prior to beginning. This ensures that only the student taking the exam logs into it – no other students may share passwords or use same computer, and this also can prevent students from leaving an exam early and then coming back later to change answers.
An effective way to prevent online exam cheating is requiring test takers to sign in using a secure browser, which will create a more stable connection and lower the chance that their test freezes or crashes. A secure browser also blocks Web searches, instant messaging services and functions that could allow cheaters to bypass an examination.
Some students attempt to cheat during online exams using Bluetooth-powered devices such as invisible smartwatches and micro earpieces that transmit audio or text. Such devices can easily be concealed under desks and other surfaces so as to be difficult to detect during an exam.
To thwart such attacks, it is critical to conduct practice online tests prior to an actual exam so students are familiar with its technology and can ace it with confidence. Furthermore, setting your exam settings so it closes automatically if a student exits the test early or runs out of time can also provide crucial protections against abuse of this kind.
3. Require students to log out of the exam
Online exams provide a convenient method of teaching, but can also present temptations for cheating students. Although institutions strive to prevent it, learners have found ways to get around this rule – whether using another friend to answer questions for them or communicating through social media – making cheating during online exams an issue that must be dealt with by educators and administrators.
One effective method for combatting cheating in exams is requiring students to log out before closing the browser, preventing them from copying answers from other students and returning into the exam to change previous submissions. While this strategy typically works effectively, it may fail in cases of insecure browsers or unstable Internet connections.
An effective way to prevent cheating during online exams is to design them so they are difficult to copy, such as randomizing question selection and order, so students don’t receive similar questions at the same time. Another strategy for making exams harder to copy involves replacing multiple choice and true/false questions with open-ended ones requiring in-depth answers.
Practice exams provide your students with an opportunity to familiarize themselves with the online examination environment before sitting their actual examinations, giving them time to become acquainted with both its interface and features that can prevent cheating. Instructors should remember to remind their students about their institution’s academic integrity policies prior to each test taking, whether this be via video or adding it into the course syllabus.
4. Require students to use a secure browser
Secure browsers for online exams provide an extra layer of security against cheating. Students cannot use keyboard shortcuts to copy, paste, open new tabs or run applications that could facilitate cheating during exams; taking screenshots and recording their computer screen while they take an exam; they cannot take screenshots either and all they will see will be what’s displayed on their exam monitor – thus helping prevent the most common form of cheating during online exams.
Additionally, using a secure browser will prevent students from accessing email and instant messaging apps or performing internet searches; these are common forms of cheating during online exams because it enables students to look up answers before sharing them with fellow classmates. Finally, using such an internet browser prevents accessing additional monitors or applications that might disrupt testing processes.
As opposed to browser extensions, software applications like the SEB secure browser have direct access to a computer’s operating system and give exam administrators more control over which functions, settings and applications need restricting and are needed to prevent common types of exploits that may appear during an online examination like remote screen sharing or task switching swipes.
Secure browsers not only prevent these common forms of cheating, but they can also assist in protecting against impersonation and other forms of fraud by being integrated with live proctoring solutions such as live proctoring and auto proctoring, two-factor authentication systems and automated identity validation services – further protecting exams against exam misconduct.
5. Require students to use a secure connection
An encrypted connection is vital when administering online exams. It protects students from cheating by masking their web browsing history and restricting them from copy-pasting answers, while also making sure the test doesn’t get interrupted by applications or services running on student’s computers.
Communication between students and proctors is the first step towards ensuring an online exam runs securely, including what devices or software they may or may not use, how they should position themselves before their computers, and whether or not they interact with other students during an exam. TopHat’s browser lock software then limits access to websites outside the exam, disables keyboard shortcuts, and prevents students from taking screenshots; furthermore it can detect suspicious activity real time and notify live remote proctors directly of any suspicious activities detected during an exam session.
Requiring students to use virtual machines when taking online exams is another effective way of combatting cheating during online examinations. A virtual machine is essentially an isolated computer running within your main operating system – for instance, you could run Windows 11 inside Mac OS; once isolated from its host machine, students cannot access other tabs or websites during an exam.
One effective method of preventing cheating during online exams is using a proctoring service. A remote proctor can monitor a student’s exam through live streaming video or recorded footage and prompt the student if any signs of cheating arise; additionally they retain the right to suspend it at any point if necessary.