Remote Learning or Cheating: How to Prevent Students from Cheating During Online Exams

The pandemic of coronavirus turned the world upside down and everything bent down to its knees. The states around the globe imposed the lockdowns in their countries and made sure that every public gathering place is closed in order to prevent the spread of the virus.

Like the other industries, the sector of education was also hit massively. The educational institutions, schools, colleges, and universities were closed and the students were shifted towards the online teaching.

In the midst of the COVID-19, it was definitely a hard nut to crack to get into the online teaching mode for which teachers and students were never habitual.

Looking at the picture from the perspective of the education sector, we will walk through some essential components of the online teaching and the difficulties that are being faced by the teachers and students.

PANDEMIC AND ONLINE TEACHING- A NEW NORMAL?

As we discussed, since the pandemic of coronavirus, the things went upside down in every sector and industry. Roughly observed data reflects, there are nearly 1 billion students around the whole globe who are sitting at home due to the pandemic and cannot experience the formal teaching as the educational institutes are already closed.

The online teaching has become the new normal for the students now and the teachers are also becoming habitual to this system of teaching.

I personally believe that the online teaching scenarios are not reliable and worthy enough as this does not give the teacher a freehand to monitor the students. Also, some teachers are unable to keep up with the technology and are unable to deliver the lecture efficiently.

The clash of the timings of online classes, lack of engagement, and absence of in-person contact is also creating difficulty for the students and they are unable to manage the online classes proficiently.

CHEATING IN ONLINE EXAMS- THINGS GOT EASIER?

After the end of the academic term, there comes the final examination and the cumulative assessments in which the knowledge and learning of the students is tested by the teachers.

Oddly, the students become the most creative when it comes to the cheating in exams. From the traditional methods of writing small notes on papers to the use of numerous applications on the smartphone to collaborate with their peers, the cheating behaviors have changed rapidly.

Put a stop on the cheating in the remote learning, sounds way so difficult because monitoring the students has become simply next to impossible.

The expert researchers from dissertation writing service stressed upon the idea, the educators and the teachers need to consider creating a nurturing environment and must help the students in embracing a growth mindset.

Trying to eliminate the cheating from the online and remote learning is one of the most daunting challenges for the educators. During the lockdown, this online teaching has ended up in making everything a little messy and intimidating for so many teachers and students.

The students have also gone way smarter in cheating than ever before and the technological upgrades have also helped them in connecting with the peers before and during the test.

HOW TO PREVENT THE STUDENTS FROM CHEATING DURING ONLINE EXAMS?

Due to the coronavirus, the students have spent the whole good year at home and have taken the online classes. This could go a little more far because the virus is not completely eradicated.

In the light of the ongoing pandemic conditions, the approach was changed for the exams as well. The students were directed towards the online examinations. This is more challenging because here, monitoring and invigilating the students become far more difficult than before.

However, the virtual protocoling tools and with the help of some strategies this matter can be looked efficiently. Below I have broken down some ways that would help to decrease cheating during the online examinations. Let’s get into the study.

Ask questions that need high order thinking:

The teachers must make sure to create high-level questions that are based on the analysis, evaluation, and synthesis levels. Also, such questions would not be available in the text books and on the search engine.

Use the software efficiently:

The experts from different assignment writing services emphasized on using numerous software that could prohibit the students from backtracking. Also, make sure that only one question must show up for the answering. This will also keep students on track.

Use various question types:

Using different types of questions including the MCQs, diagrams, and explanation along with reasoning question would help the students to avoid cheating. Also, make sure to get the cameras and mic open of the students.

Creative reminder of the academic integrity policies:

You can also post a video that would be explaining the guidelines for the online exam and can remind the students about academic integrity policy. You can also get the students sign the contract of following the policy.

Restrict testing window:

Create single and different slot for each and every other section and class. Make sure that you are conducting the different sets of paper and each test must be different from each other so none of the student could help each other.

Change the test question sequence:

Teachers can also opt for the type of question paper where the sequence of the questions must be different from each other. In this way, the students would not be able to help each other in the paper.

One take of each paper:

Educators are highly recommended to take only one paper of each student. There must be no retake of the paper without any genuine issue.

Plan for the technical issues:

Plan out for the technical issues. There could be any urgency or shortage of internet connectivity with teachers or even students, make sure to have a backup plan.

Check plagiarism:

You can also check for the plagiarism in the theoretical questions. This would also reveal that who has copied from whom. Also, make sure to warn the students about the plagiarism checker.

Offer different versions of same test:

You can also offer different versions of the same test and can arrange several sets of test for the students to appear in the different time zones. Just make sure that the questions are not in the same sequence and should be confusing enough to give students a tough time on internet.

PARTING SHOT:

With the help of these 10 advance tips, the teachers can prevent the students from the cheating while giving an online exam. This is very important to have the proper monitoring check in the remote learning and examination session. Incorporating these tips would help the educators to stop the students from cheating in their remote-online exams effectively.  

About IITSWEB

IITSWEB is the Chief Business Development Officer at IITSWEB, a Magento design and development company headquartered in Redwood City, California. He is a Member of the Magento Association and an Adobe Sales Accredited Magento Commerce professional. Jan is responsible for developing and leading the sales and digital marketing strategies of the company. He is passionate about ecommerce and Magento in particular — throughout the years his articles have been featured on Retail Dive, Hacker Noon, Chief Marketer, Mobile Marketer, TMCnet, and many others.

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