Another way to keep the integrity of the quizzes is by having a quiz pool. Here students will have a difficult time cheating because each student taking the quiz will have different questions and if student know about the quiz pool, it may discourage them from cheating.
Belinda:
The question behind the minds of most institutions is how do they know that the person who registered for the online course is the person taking the exam. Timed exams that cannot be printed can minimize cheating. Timed exams do no resolve the problem of verifying that the right person is taking the exam from a distance.
Satrohan
We seem to share the same thoughts on this topic. I believe one of the easier ways to protect exam integrity is to offer timed exams. Allowing extended periods of time for exams promotes laziness and encourages the unauthorized use of course materials! If students are sufficiently prepared, there should be no problem. However, it is crucial that the Instructor create the exam with the time limit in mind and plan accordingly.
Gloria:
we look forward to your thoughts on this issue which can have a significant impact on the future of online learning if fraudalent activities continue to escalate.
Satrohan
Thank you for sharing your personal experience with us, Larry. The majority of higher institutions of learning for which I provide support place th highest emphasis on projects and assignments when they award grades.
Satrohan
I think about this a lot and don't have any solution to the problem yet.
As the college where I work at struggles with the question of exam integrity, I am encouraged by the suggestion that the exam's value, as it relates to the percentage of the final grade, be lowered. My personal experience has been that my involvement in projects and assignments fosters "true learning" of the content versus "cramming" for exams.
Debra:
Protecting the integrity of exams in an online environment is a real challenge. We can take several measures. One would be to change the questions on the exam for each offering of the course. Another would be to administer parallel versions of the same exam to the same group of students. If we were to apply any of these two measures, we have to keep in mind that students would still have access to their textbook and supplementary reading materials, and even th ecourse materials unless they are locked out of the course during the exam period.
Another possible solution is to release the exam ofr a specified amount of time. The exam would be a timed exam, released once only for the specified period. And we would definitely have to change the questions for the next offering of the course. When the exam is times in this manner, students would not have the opportunity to share questions with each other; neither would they have time to look up answers in text books and other learning materials. This strategy, however, lends itself to criticism as it contradicts one of the arguments for the benefits of online learning-----flexibility.
Many Instructors with whom I have worked recognize the problems with online exams and therefore have reverted to testing theory based knowledge using parallel versions of tests using a random test item generator. These theory based exams do not carry a high percentage of the final grade. The high percentage of the final grade is based on Assignments and major projects.
Satrohan
