Remote Proctoring Cheating
Of course, some students continue to attempt to cheat on online tests, but the use of live human proctors and AI-automated remote proctoring technologies has virtually eliminated academic dishonesty. Here are a few time-tested strategies that both will soon recognize.
When taking an online proctored exam, dishonest test-takers frequently use screen-sharing software to display their exam questions and response options to their assistants. Any additional noises or gestures that would suggest cheating during these exams can be detected by AI-based proctoring.
Distractions
Some students claim they cannot focus when taking a test at home and find it more difficult than in a classroom with a physical proctor; this can divert them from taking remote proctored exams. Therefore, when students take online tests and exams, schools should make sure they have access to a clean, peaceful, and distraction-free testing environment.
During online proctored tests, students could be tempted to enlist the aid of friends and relatives in order to cheat by accessing online answers, mirroring their computer screens to another device, and passing along professor-provided questions. This form of dishonesty cannot be stopped by AI or live remote proctoring tools, but professors should keep an eye out for any potential warning signs during tests and mark them as potential problems either immediately or after the exam.
Distractions include raucous noises from family rooms or living rooms, messy rooms with papers, books, and other clutter, and private items on students’ desks like images of friends or pets can all cause disruptions during exams when remote proctoring is used. Although it may seem impossible to ignore, several universities have put in place sophisticated algorithms that can detect and remove these distractions from exam screens.
Fitzgerald thinks faculty should concentrate on creating tests that do not encourage cheating, or at the very least, give students more opportunities to demonstrate competence without turning to outside assistance, rather than trying to come up with new ways for students to cheat or using surveillance technology to monitor them. Designing closed book and open note exams as well as portfolio and video-based assignments could be one method to address this need.
Cell Phones
Smartphones have transformed online test-taking by providing users with more sophisticated ways to cheat during online tests, although scribbling notes into exam rooms has long been a concern. Fortunately, the same defenses against academic dishonesty used against conventional in-person exams—physical proctoring, anti-cheating legislation, and technology—can also be applied to digital exams.
In order to prevent cheating during remote proctored exams, Questionmark’s digital proctoring platform includes a lockdown browser that limits students’ access to programs, websites, and keyboard functions (like print screen). This prevents students from looking up answers online or using their phones to take screenshots. This makes it far more difficult to cheat on remote-proctored tests.
Random questions, automatic recordings of the student’s screen and audio inputs, as well as video or voice proctoring are additional methods used to prevent cheating during remote proctoring. Video proctoring typically includes both live human proctoring and AI-based software that indicates suspicious activity. This could include movement within the room or by an invisible camera that identifies someone new entering it. It can also be triggered by opening new tabs or conducting online research.
When this behaviour is discovered, the software can either instantly notify a live human proctor or record and archive it for later evaluation. Additionally, whenever an application or website is opened without authorization or when someone tries to copy data from them directly to a clipboard, this system is triggered.
An online exam can be started once a student’s identification and equipment have been confirmed. Typically, students are asked to turn on their webcams, take pictures or scans of their IDs, and consent to having their computer’s desktop activity and voice recorded while they are taking an exam.
Location and scheduling restrictions that make it challenging for students to take tests on time are eliminated by this procedure. They can take their tests without interference from outside sources after an authentication and verification process has been completed.
Hacking
The internet, cell phones, and electronic gadgets like smartwatches provide plenty of options for students who want to cheat during remotely proctored tests. Fortunately, proctoring systems that restrict internet access and ban tab flipping while only allowing specified applications and programs needed for the test can readily stop this kind of cheating.
Using remote software to connect students with outside aid during exams is another common kind of cheating. With certain programs, this type of hacking may even allow a student to see questions before they are asked for an advantage in their exams. Students may use video chat software like Skype to show their screen to someone offsite and communicate real-time questions and answers with them in real-time.
Maximilian Seiderer was discovered engaging in various sorts of cheating on a Proctorio-administered online test. Seiderer discussed his experience with Motherboard and explained how he was able to employ these techniques without being noticed by the proctoring software and get away with it.
Seiderer used certain archaic study techniques, although online proctoring made it clear when this was happening. Strong anti-cheating measures must therefore be in place to prevent such behavior and guarantee that it is reported as soon as it is discovered.
Impersonation and hiring other test-takers in place of the student are two examples of cheating on an online exam. Both behaviors occur before or during the testing session and can be challenging to detect without human verification.
For best success, it is necessary to completely eliminate all unethical alternatives in order to stop cheating in remote proctoring, in addition to removing distractions and providing deterrents. This could entail abandoning multiple-choice questions in favor of tests that require students to compose essays, read their answers out, or physically demonstrate their understanding. This strategy has been shown to considerably reduce cheating among remote proctoring students. By include such tests in the curriculum, this type of cheating may be reduced greatly.
Facial Recognition
As a teacher or eLearning specialist, you are aware of the need of protecting the validity of your assessments. Candidates have equal chances of success regardless of where they may live in the world by using remote proctoring solutions, such as live online proctoring, to deliver tests that are fair.
Impersonation, which occurs before or during an exam and entails inviting someone else to take it in your place, is one of the most common types of cheating during online proctored tests. Given all the many methods students might take when taking proctored tests online, it should not be surprising that they would try to get around security precautions by cheating during proctored exams.
Thanks to technical advancements, cheating during online exams is now possible thanks to face recognition software. If there is a clear view of the person’s face in the camera viewfinder, it enables the computer to detect faces even when their photographs are deformed or fuzzy; even from a great distance. Theoretically, this could stop imitation from occurring during assessments that demand physical motion, like medical examinations.
But technology also makes it possible for people to lie. A special makeup that can trick facial recognition software was created by a scientist from Russia named Grigory Bakunov. Helpers” can evade detection by donning similar makeup during exams and providing solutions by text message or other channels.
Another method of cheating on a proctored online exam is to mirror one’s desktop screen onto an external monitor or projector so someone else can see the answers and alert the test taker. AI-based proctoring solutions are skilled at spotting this type of cheating through both body language analysis and keyboard input tracking.