Online Exams Cheating Covid
Cheating has increased during the COVID pandemic due to various reasons, including students experiencing greater levels of stress during this critical time, as well as impaired accountability of rapidly implemented online exams.
Surveys on cheating often rely on self-reports that are subject to social desirability bias. Two studies comparing unproctored online exams with proctored ones using lockdown browsers demonstrated that proctored exams resulted in reduced rates of self-reported cheating, leading to lower overall rates.
Hacking
Online students have access to many tools designed to assist them in cheating online exams. While initially created to support learning journeys, they now function as hacks for exams. One student created Edgentweaks as an automated tool for answering quizzes and tests; it can detect incorrect answers by marking them red – thus notifying students when their answers may need revising later on. Another popular cheating method involves remote proctoring services which can monitor eye movements during an exam and flag it if suspicious activity is suspected during it – these programs can end the exam or flag it for review if they detect suspicious activities during tests – making exams less likely.
Studies have demonstrated that online exams tend to lead to higher rates of cheating than their in-person equivalents, although these findings should be treated with caution due to changes in security practices that accompany switching online and the potential change in students’ expectations rather than any actual behavior change.
Students who confess to cheating during an online exam frequently provide various justifications for their actions, from trying to save time by using copy and paste or using online resources for practice to being permitted by professors to use certain resources during an exam – an indication of confusion among students as to what constitutes academic integrity.
Cheating during online exams often occurs through sharing photos or screenshots of exam content with other students. Unfortunately, this form of cheating can be difficult to detect because most students don’t understand how their professor defines cheating within their discipline; furthermore they might not comprehend what “forbidden aids” entail; for instance a student could share images or screenshots with those taking similar courses in future semesters.
Cheating during online exams includes mirroring the test screen to a display or projector for another individual to watch it. While this type of cheating may be hard to spot, some remote proctoring services can identify it by monitoring eye movement patterns and unusual body language of students taking exams online.
Copying
Copying or any form of plagiarism constitutes academic dishonesty, and can result in disciplinary action and even expulsion from a school. While students may consider plagiarism to be minor offenses, its impact can have far reaching ramifications on both their careers and personal lives. Plagiarism can damage relationships and destroy trust with friends and family. Luckily, there are multiple strategies available for combatting plagiarism ranging from creating a cheat sheet to using apps designed to detect plagiarism. Step one in preventing plagiarism is following a strict work process when taking exams, in order to reduce errors that can be detected by proctoring programs. Furthermore, use only secure computers when taking tests. Carelessness with cheating is all too easy, and can result in temporary suspension or expulsion from school. Therefore, to maintain academic integrity and preserve your career and reputation it is best to refrain from engaging in any illegal behavior altogether.
Recent research revealed that online exams were associated with significantly higher rates of cheating compared to on-site exams, due both to reduced perceived costs associated with cheating and the ease of accessing resources online. The switch may also have resulted in other forms of academic dishonesty occurring more commonly among students taking online exams.
Participants were given the option of self-reporting whether or not they had ever engaged in cheating on an online exam, with results showing a significant percentage had done so (ranging from 29.9% to 54.7%), which aligns with results from previous studies; however, these studies suffer from several shortcomings which compromise their validity, such as convenience sampling and small sample sizes.
Additionally, the study demonstrated that honour codes were ineffective at curbing online exam cheating; perhaps their vague nature caused students to disregarded them. A stricter approach such as replacing an honour code with an official warning was much more successful at curbing cheating in this context.
Password Sharing
Online students may cheat in several different ways. Some use mobile phones to search the Internet or chat live with helpers through messaging apps; others take photos or screenshots of their exam and share them with friends as a form of copying; this form of cheating may be difficult to detect if students use an application that obscures their face and hands when taking the picture or screenshot.
Other methods include using computers or smartphones to record an exam and play it back for friends later, sharing questions and answers in files with each other or even recording devices like microphones in the room to facilitate cheating. Students can also cheat by sharing questions and answers among themselves manually instead of keyboarding or clicking, making detection harder; but some instructors have managed to prevent this type of cheating by asking students for an one-time password sent directly to their phones prior to beginning an exam; others even use software which detects unusual noises or devices within a room.
Students often use an excuse that they need a break from an online test as an opportunity to grab books, text friends or call them, look up information online or make multiple attempts at answering a question correctly without being suspected of cheating. Faculty should be mindful of such practices during exams in order to mitigate them as much as possible.
Some schools have taken to employing remote proctoring, whereby a trained proctor watches students take exams from afar. This technique has proven successful at reducing cheating during face-to-face exams; however, its efficacy may differ when taken online. Honor codes may seem like an effective way to promote academic integrity; however, empirical tests have demonstrated otherwise. Studies suggest that replacing honor codes with more stringent warnings might be more effective. Studies suggest incorporating changes to the design of online examinations, including open-ended questions in lieu of multiple-choice, or encouraging behaviors which might otherwise be seen as cheating (collaboration and using textbooks during an exam). While such strategies might prove more successful than honor codes, faculty will still need to monitor student behavior during an exam.
Screen Sharing
Screen sharing software enables students to work together in order to cheat in online exams. By sharing their computer screen with their helper, they can show each other exam questions, search the internet for answers or use group messaging apps such as Telegram for communication during exams. They may also use devices like smartwatches, tablets or mobile phones in order to view websites or textbooks during an exam; record actions to be rewatched later or use voice recognition software to take notes during an examination.
One of the greatest difficulties associated with online cheating is its difficulty in being detected. Methods used for detection may include attaching thermal sensors to examinees’ heads or faces; monitoring stress signals through keystroke and eye movement analysis; or detecting suspicious behavior using social network analysis – although such methods may be difficult to apply during an ad hoc online exam session.
Other methods may involve asking students to call their instructor at a designated time and receive the password for exam entry, or using either an automated or live proctoring system that remotely monitors students from afar. With artificial intelligence capabilities built-in, such systems can identify other devices or abnormal noises during an exam and alert instructors of their location; furthermore they can detect suspicious body language, facial expressions or sudden changes in speed of answering questions by an examinee.
Even with all these attempts at detection, students still may cheat during online exams taken during a Covid pandemic. Some researchers have advised universities to employ tactics such as increasing accountability through proctoring or using examination modes that reward deep understanding over surface-level recall to combat online cheating during such pandemics.
Research must also assess the efficacy of various practical solutions to online cheating during this pandemic, such as honour codes. Although honour codes are often seen as effective ways of upholding academic integrity and reducing cheating during online exams, studies have found them ineffective (Corrigan-Gibbs et al. 2022). Instead, more stern warnings may prove more successful at curbing cheating (Corrigan-Gibbs et al.).