The COVID-19 pandemic has revolutionized the education sector, bringing with it the need to adapt to online modes of teaching and assessment. One of the most popular assessment methods for remote learners is digitized examinations, which offer an efficient and convenient way to evaluate student learning outcomes.
However, while remote or digitized exams offer several benefits, they pose some unique challenges, particularly regarding ensuring exam security and integrity. Fortunately, online assessment solutions have emerged as a viable option to enable secure remote exams.
The Need for Secure Online Exams
As remote learning has grown in popularity, educational institutions have had to adapt their assessment methods to accommodate remote learners. One of the most popular assessment methods for learners is remote exams, which offer an efficient and convenient way to evaluate student learning outcomes. However, the lack of physical supervision and the abundance of resources available to the learners pose a unique challenge to the security and integrity of online exams.
The Risks of Cheating
One of the primary challenges of remote exams is the risk of cheating. Students may use various methods to cheat, such as accessing resources on their computer, having someone else take the exam, or communicating with others during the exam. Preventing cheating in online exams is essential to ensuring the validity of student assessments.
Preventing Cheating with Online Assessment Solutions
Fortunately, online assessment solutions have been developed to provide several features that can help prevent cheating. These features include:
Lockdown Browsers – Lockdown browsers are designed to restrict students from accessing other applications and websites during the exam. This ensures that students cannot access resources that may help them cheat. Lockdown browsers can also prevent students from copying and pasting information or taking screenshots during the exam.
Proctoring Tools – Proctoring tools are designed to monitor the student’s behavior during the exam. They can detect suspicious behavior, such as looking away from the screen, talking to someone, or using a second device. Proctoring tools can also capture audio and video of the student during the exam. This helps deter students from cheating, as they know they are being monitored. Additionally, the audio and video recordings can be reviewed by proctors after the exam to identify any instances of cheating.
AI-Powered Monitoring – AI-powered monitoring is a tailored solution for remotely proctored exams that uses artificial intelligence to analyze student behavior during the exam. The AI algorithm can detect patterns of behavior that may indicate cheating, such as rapid eye movement, unusual mouse clicks, or unusual keystrokes. AI-powered monitoring can also analyze the student’s writing style and compare it to their previous work to detect inconsistencies. This technology can help prevent cheating more effectively than human proctors, as it can monitor multiple students and analyze large amounts of data.
Ensuring the Integrity of Exam Questions
Another important aspect of secure remote proctored exams is the integrity of the exam questions. To ensure the integrity of exam questions, online assessment solutions can provide the following features:
Randomising Questions and Choices – The software can randomize the order of the questions and the choices within the questions. This ensures that each student receives a different set of questions, making it challenging to share answers with others.
Detecting Plagiarism – The software can detect plagiarism by comparing the student’s answers to an existing content database. This helps ensure that students are not simply copying and pasting responses from the internet or other sources.
Conclusion
The need for secure proctored exams has become increasingly important with the rise of digitized education. The risk of cheating and the need for the integrity of exam questions are significant challenges that online assessment solutions can address. Features such as lockdown browsers, proctoring tools, and AI-powered monitoring can help prevent cheating while randomizing questions and detecting plagiarism can help ensure the integrity of exam questions.
While some potential drawbacks exist, investing in online assessment solutions can benefit educational institutions and students significantly. By using the latest technologies, educational institutions can adapt to the new era of remote learning and ensure the validity of student assessments.
