Online Exams Cheating
Online exam cheating poses a real threat to educational institutions. It can distort evaluation of student learning and prevent students from receiving accurate assessments about themselves and their abilities.
Though remote proctoring helps reduce cheating in online exams, students still find ways to bypass its measures and commit cheating during online tests. Here are a few techniques they employ.
1. Sharing Exam Content
Online exams have long been an easy and efficient way for students to take high-stake tests more conveniently, but rapid technological developments have given rise to novel methods of cheating: instead of writing math formulae on palms or seeking assistance from friends, many students now use sophisticated software tools that enable them to cheat during proctored assessments in ways even professors and exam administrators may struggle to detect.
One method involves using a second monitor to mirror the main screen of a device accessing an online exam, so students can share answers with one another and use various applications on their devices to search for and write down answers.
Students often resort to logging off of an online exam and back on again in order to gain more chances at answering questions, potentially leading to significant drops in score if students aiming to achieve over 90% marks are using this strategy. Therefore, it is vital that proctor software tracks such behavior to protect the integrity of exam administration.
Students can utilize file-sharing websites like DropBox or SkyDrive to cheat exams by downloading or posting exam answers. According to some researchers, watermarking assessments online could make contract cheaters’ distribution harder (Clark et al. 2020). Furthermore, to protect integrity of questions and avoid unauthorised distribution it is vital to limit test duration by setting it to self-destruct after certain time period and self-destruct after certain period.
Students can be tracked using their IP addresses or registration details that are required to take an online exam, while outside resources used during exams can be restricted by platforms like Questionmark’s online assessment solution which locks browsers and prevents test takers from leaving their online test environment without altering AI systems – this may involve uploading personal details such as names, employee ID numbers or any other necessary registration data to access this solution.
2. Hacking Exam Questions
Exam hacking involves the misuse of technology to gain unauthorised assistance during an online test. This could involve searching for answers, consulting electronic textbooks and notes, or even paying an online proctor for the answers they require. Exam hacking poses serious threats as it could lead to unfair evaluation of student abilities; in order to combat it successfully it’s critical that various best practices be put in place.
Students today are highly proficient with technology. Some have even taken to using smartwatches, earbuds and other devices as cheating devices during an online test, or using techniques like mirroring and screen sharing to bypass remote proctoring software. It can be difficult to spot these techniques when used alongside technologies unrelated to an exam.
One effective strategy for combatting online exam cheating is preventing students from accessing unauthorised material during an exam, such as smartphones, e-textbooks or even personal notes. Furthermore, quality assurance checks should be conducted regularly to make sure that online security measures are working effectively.
Monitor student behavior while taking an online test. Take note of any suspicious looks, gestures or any attempts at hiding their faces during testing; these could all be telltale signs that students are cooperating with third-party assistants or engaging in cheating activities.
Data forensics can also help detect cheating on online tests by comparing test-taker responses and results with those of other test takers to identify any violations of testing policies that have taken place. It is crucial that you know how to recognize violations so you can take appropriate actions if needed.
Online exam cheating is a serious threat and warrants the attention of educational institutions worldwide. But online exams do not pose more danger than in-person tests if properly implemented authentication measures, web monitoring, and data forensics are implemented – this can reduce cheating while safeguarding participant safety.
3. Impersonating Others
Impersonation is one of the most dangerous forms of cheating during online exams, occurring when students attempt to take an exam on behalf of someone else (usually friends or family members). Impersonation can be hard to detect as it usually happens before proctors verify a student’s identity; many proctoring solutions use various techniques for doing this but some students find ways around these checks.
To do this, they attempt to switch places with someone before or during authentication or switch identities during testing – both methods can be difficult to spot on camera and some students even resort to video editing software to fool proctors into believing they are taking part alone in taking an exam.
Hacking multiple-choice questions is another method for cheating exams, which involves running their exam content through coding software and running it through multiple-choice questions as coded content. The program then analyzes each answer for any instances of one (1s) or zeros (0s) or other coding text to identify whether they contain 1s (1s), zeros (0s) or other coded text that might contain it as correct answers.
Students also employ less technical methods of cheating during online exams, using other tools and strategies to avoid detection. Some may use their mobile phones or seek assistance from friends for cheating websites while others attempt to hide behind objects or cover their screen with stickers so as to not be caught by cameras.
According to proctoring company data, cheating rates in online exams have reached new heights. They found that more than one-third of students taking proctored online tests broke the rules last year.
Educational institutions need to develop effective tools for preventing online exam cheating and raising student awareness of its dangers in order to combat troubling trends, like cheating. One effective strategy for eliminating cheating during tests includes restricting document access or decreasing viewing area size and using proctoring software with features that detect and deter such activities by blocking student browser settings that enable mirroring or screen sharing activities.
4. Taking the Exam from Home
Closets, desks and chairs all make great places for students taking exams at home online to hide an exam booklet; similarly walls or curtains could hide answers written on paper sheets that might also serve as places to hide answers; students might also use items like water bottles as tools to see if their answer has been written on them.
Programmers and coders who know their way around programming languages such as Python can gain entry to an online test’s content by translating correct answers into code, then running this through special software which recognizes ones (1s) and zeroes (0s), while all other options appear as text coding text. To avoid such forms of cheating, make sure that your proctoring solution can protect online assessments from being accessed through other means by students.
Data forensics offers another means of detecting cheating in online exams: psychometricians trained in data forensics can review testing data post-exam to detect any patterns indicating cheating may have taken place, for instance if responses change from wrong-to-right or speed changes significantly during an exam, this could indicate cheating may have taken place and indicate they are trying to obtain answers elsewhere.
Students adept in using technology may even attempt to bypass an online exam using additional devices, like their mobile phones, to search for answers. Because of this threat, platforms like Alemira Proctor require users to conduct an environmental scan prior to beginning any exam as this can reveal any objects or aids that may help evade detection.
Cheating rates in online exams have reached unprecedented heights, as evidenced by a study by ProctorU which claims the rate of confirmed breaches of exam rules during its tests had reached their highest ever point ever. As a result, institutions are taking new approaches to testing – some opting to conduct all high stakes exams personally rather than online.