Impersonating: Online ID authentication such as face ID and biometrics are used to prevent impersonation. Identification is continuous, from beginning to end of the exam session.
Online Exams can be Conducted Securely and With Integrity
As universities move to distance learning, there are doubts about whether online exams can be conducted securely and with integrity. Doubts abound and are fueled by the basic logic that if students can cheat in the presence of invigilators in face-to-face exams, how about online when no one is watching? Truth is, when the right online assessment software is used, both software and remote invigilators are watching. And they are watching with eagle eyes and can see much more detail than an invigilator in a face-to-face environment can because of remote monitoring capabilities of software. In fact, good online exam systems are secure and can be trusted because they deploy an array of advanced technologies, coupled with human remote monitoring, to frustrate cheating.
The claim that good online exam systems are as good as face-to-face is based on research. A study conducted by Marshall University shows that 32.1% of respondents admitted to cheating in a face-to-face environment while 32.7% admitted to cheating in an online environment. The difference between these two numbers is insignificant. Many other studies show similar results. So, what is not generally known, and what this articles intends to make known, is that with the right tool, online exams can be conducted securely and with integrity.
What is an online examination?
An online examination is an assessment conducted remotely, via the internet, to test a student’s knowledge in a subject or in a wide range of subjects.
How exams can be conducted securely and with integrity
Exams can be conducted securely and with integrity when a good learning management systems (LMS) is used. The best LMSs use advanced technology and psychology to defeat cheating. In addition to other cheating countermeasures, these systems address two of the major concerns regarding online exams, impersonation and copying and pasting answers. Next, establish an online exam control center where remote invigilators can monitor the exam and assist with problems, warn, or remotely stop an exam when cheating is obvious. From the remote control center, one invigilator can monitor hundreds of students. On the invigilator’s screen, each student’s name, photo and bio data, etc. are displayed. The invigilator does not have to scan through each student to look for infractions because the software does that and raises an exception flag when it suspects cheating so the invigilator can take appropriate action remotely.
Appropriate action is possible because against each student’s profile are a set of software-driven indicators that show a normal test environment (green color), potential problem environment (yellow) and serious infractions (red). When proctoring software raises a flag, the invigilator can communicate with the student to find out what is going on. Before an online exam commences, a browser lockdown is enforced to prevent students from copying and pasting. Student identification, via a camera, is established to forestall impersonation. After the initial identification, continuous identification is conducted every few seconds to ensure there is no impersonation. Exam questions are randomly but appropriately generated by the system just before the exam to prevent leakage of questions. Each question is timed to further frustrate cheating.
Technologies that the best learning management systems deploy to frustrate online exam cheating
Good learning management systems use some or all of the following technologies to thwart cheating: Facial recognition software to confirm an online student’s identity. Students’ faces are checked against their identities stored by the institution. Keystroke analyzers are utilized to recognize keyboard typing patterns. Proctoring software is integrated to enable remote invigilators to monitor and or record test takers or to watch body language, eye movement, or other physical attributes known to indicate suspicious behavior. Just-in-Time Question Paper (JIT-QP) generated from exam question banks, minutes before the exam, are used to prevent leakage. Serialization of exam questions, showing one question at a time prevents students from knowing questions ahead of time and asking others to find answers for them. Timed questions are used to make it difficult to cheat and auto plagiarism detection features are baked into the system to identify plagiarized work.
Why the best online exams systems are as good as face-to-face
To beat a cheat, think like one. To frustrate online cheating, LMS developers have amassed and studied a compendium of cheating behaviors and techniques and have developed advanced proctoring software to neutralize these. They do so by using specific technology or technologies to target specific cheating patterns and known and emerging cheating behaviors and techniques.
How technologies are deployed against cheating behaviors
Screen sharing or mirroring: This is where students use more than one monitor while doing an online exam. In this scenario, the student uses one monitor to access the exam questions while the other monitor mirrors the contents of the main monitor. An off-screen impersonator then accesses the test questions and comes up with answers. Screen mirroring or sharing is combated by imposing a browser lockdown at the onset of the exam. A browser lockdown prevents students from going outside the exam sandbox and denies them access, for the duration of the exam, to display settings on their device that enable screen sharing.
Cheating with devices: Smartphones and some programmable scientific calculators enable students to store data and formulas and use them during online exams. Students try to escape detection by keeping the device out of the perspective of the monitoring camera. However, proctoring software that records head, keystroke, and eye movement defeats this ploy because it flags eye, head and hand movements that fall outside of the defined normal movement parameters. To fool eye monitoring software, some students wear sunshades. When such violations are noticed, an alert is sent to remote invigilators who then contact the student. When students realize they are closely watched, they usually moderate their behavior. Those who continue to violate the norm will have their exams stopped remotely after three warnings. The ability of the camera to see even slight out of bound movements and report acts as a psychological barrier to cheating.
