Students caught cheating during online exams

One major concern about online evaluation during this Covid-19 season is cheating. Will cheating go viral as well since there is an absence of invigilation?

The different ways to cheat include various dishonest methodology and their prevention such as:

1. The face of the student has to be seen online. Does the microphone also need to be unmuted if another person unseen is prompting and helping at the side?

2. If books are not permitted as in an open book exam, some institutions have installed eye movement detection for this purpose, noting any student whose eyes are diverted from the screen for more than five seconds.

Then again, there are false positive cheating here as some persons do think by looking down or even looking up at the ceiling.

3. I have encountered cheating during a recent online test when there were identical responses from four students to a short answer type question.

Added misfortune for the culprits, the four answers which all had the same grammatical mistakes repeated were only partially correct.

These students will obviously be called up to account and be warned or penalised.

Presumably, these comrades appointed their best student who could snap a photo of her screen and share.

Is there a neurophysiology of cheating and dishonesty? Parents will know that our “don’t do this, this is bad behaviour, you will be punished” very frequently bounce off and do not register.

On the other hand, parents will also testify that positive reinforcement and encouragement to do right often are more effective.

Is there a place for university teachers to implement this mature approach? Some universities practice an honesty code.

All freshies and students at the beginning of a semester sign a declaration that they will commit to ethical, professional conduct during tests.

In one university in the US, several years back where I spent my sabbatical and was observing an exam, I was pleasantly surprised that students freely left their seats, unaccompanied to the restrooms during the tests.

Perhaps Covid-19 presents an unplanned opportunity to release our students and trust that they will feel responsible and do their exams with integrity?

So much time, thinking, and energy can be used to try to make our online tests cheat-proof during this Covid-19 season.

Is there a place to empower our students and unmask their potential to desire honourable values, to live lives free from a guilty conscience? Because honest lives matter.

---

CHENG HWEE MING is with the Department of Physiology, Universiti Malaya. - Mkini