As technology has improved in education, public schools are realizing it’s potential. Over seventy percent of high schools have some online testing in place. But even with current practices used to stop cheating, students seem to find a way around it. There are options out there that screen online testing, such as keystroke recognition. The system can verify the student by their unique typing patterns, but this does not keep the student from receiving verbal answers from a friend or parent. The current systems also lack the ability to prevent students from talking with one another through instant messaging and if they search the Web for test answers.
Now educators are questioning if this advanced technology’s worth outweighs the cost. Leaning more towards teaching students the importance of academic integrity. Stating that promoting students to develop skills for trustworthy, ethical decisions will deter cheaters. Most teachers are familiar with their students and can identify a student’s work, or determine suspicion of cheating.
Recently, institutions have entered a new market by offering high school degrees online. This brings an increase of students testing online and potentially cheating their way to a diploma. As this generation migrates to virtual education, we cannot fall behind on monitoring students. It is important to uphold the emphasis on integrity of a students work as their own.
In hopes of aiding the dilemma, online proctoring can alleviate teachers of cheating situations. The teacher will not have to do anything unless ProctorFree’s program detects possible cheating that will red flag the recorded session. The teacher will be sent the flagged file if they would like to review the testing session and make a final decision. In the end this will put less strain on teachers to watch every student’s move during testing. Which we know is impossible.
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