Thanks for this opportunity to speak today

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EXAM SECURITY FOR ONLINE CERTIFICATION COURSES
Thanks for this opportunity to speak today
2008 Pro Board Accreditation Training Conference
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Pro Board core values
CREDIBILITY
TRUST
CONFIDENTIALITY
MISUSE
ABUSE
ANY cheating is an assault on our core values
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Do we really need to worry about student cheating?

• High school survey saysYES
• 80 admitted to cheating on exams
• only 70 from survey 15 years previous
• 50 said cheating was not necessarily wrong
• 95 of those who cheated have never been caught

High school cheating is epidemic
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But maybe only high school students cheat
NO

• --- University Football Team Could Lose 25
  Players for Bowl Game
• Coach We have some players not traveling for
  one reason and some for another reason, including
  those who are ineligible for the bowl because of
  academic issues.
• Translation An internal investigation accused
  23 athletes of cheating on tests
• Two athletic department employees lost their jobs
  in the wake of the investigation.

Sander, 2007
(Note The team lost the bowl game)
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Do we really need to worry about adult students?
YES

• Army knew of cheating on test for eight years
  Hundreds of thousands of exam copies used, Globe
  probe finds.
• In addition, the Globe found, the Army had been
  warned by a panel of experts it convened in 2001
  that it needed to improve test security. But it
  did not act on the panels recommendations.
• At the same time, the promotion points obtained
  through passing theexams became a greater part
  of determing who gets made a sergeant.

Bender Baron, Dec. 15, 2007
Scam violated Code of Military Justice
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Again Do we really need to worry about adult
students?

• 2006 headline Entire class of (---) recruits
  fired for cheating.
• 20 police recruits were in fifth week of training
• Public safety director Nothing much shocks me
  after 35 years in this business, but I was
  shocked.
• A Commissioner praised the swift response from
  the Academy.

Brett, 2006
Recruits were mix of men, women, various
backgrounds
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Do we really need to worry about fire fighter
students?

• NBC investigation Unit-5 Sources Allege Fire
  Academy Cheating.
• Story Exam questions and answers were given in
  advance to fire fighters since at least the year
  2000.
• So how do they get the test? Our sources say
  its been handed out right at the Academy. In
  essence, what youre saying is that teachers at
  the Academy are helping them cheat.

NBC5.com, 2003
Exam scam related to EMT training higher pay
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Do we really need to worry about fire fighter
students?

• Headline (State) Investigates Cheating on (---
  Fire Dept.) Exam.
• Story State officials are investigating whether
  a group of fire fighters cheated during a civil
  service promotional exam in November (2007)
• They took turns going to the mens room, tapping
  out answers on their cellphone and sending text
  messages to their colleagues in the test room.

Slack, 2007
Questions raised about exam security, cellphones
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Do we really need to worry about fire fighter
students?

• Headline Mayor (in another state) Strong
  evidence of fire department exam cheating.
• An investigation into allegations of cheating by
  fire fighters on a promotional exam found strong
  evidence to support the claim, Mayor said Nov.
  2007
• The city inspector generals report found that
  as many as six fire fighters compromised the exam
  byhaving prior knowledge of questions.

wbaltv.com, 2007
Exam results cancelled, new exam required
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Campbells Law

• The more important the measurement used for
  decision-making,
• the more subject it will be to corruption
  pressures,
• and the more apt it will be to corrupt and
  distort the system it is intended to monitor

Baseball steroids
Campbell, 1975
This applies across all decision instruments
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Who cheats?

• Affected by motivation and morality
• Achievement motivation
• High achievement need, more cheating
• Aggressive personality
• Gender
• Males cheat more than females
• Intrinsically motivated
• More cheating when they do not study for the
  pleasure and satisfaction of learning

Morality excuse Everybody is doing it
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Is cheating sometimes ignored?

• Research shows some professors and instructors
  may ignore cheating
• Emotionality
• Stress of dealing with confrontation
• Difficulty
• Time and task costs for getting involved
• Lack of institutional support
• Fear
• Lower evals, retaliation, escalation, legal
• Denial
• I dont want to know about it.

Keith-Spiegel, et al, 1998
Instructors deserve a lot of support from above
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Going online

• Is online education becoming an irresistable
  force?
• 2003 1,600,000 students
• 2006 3,200,000 students
• 2007 3,500,000 students

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UP 10 in 1 yr
2006 about 20 of ALL higher education students
are online 83 expect continued increases
Alfred Sloan Foundation, 2007
Dont ignore this opportunity
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WHY GO ONLINE?

• Increased ACCESS for more students
• Especially important to non-traditional students
• Fire fighter irregular work schedules
• Travel distances to centralized classes
• Compatible with personal schedules
• Allows for personal preference on when the
  studying gets done

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But online should never mean easier.
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Why NOT go online (1)?

• Concern over cost of development and delivery?
• YES, say those planning online
• NO, say those already online
• Quality control
• Course content
• Everything cant be done online

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Why NOT online (2)

• Fear of increased cheating
• Magazine headline Will cheating kill EMS
  online education?
• Headline Dec. 26, 2007 Job exam piracy rising
  Websites aid test cheating by professionals.
• Pirated answers to hundreds of professional
  qualifying exams, in fields ranging from
  school-bus driver to medical technicians, are
  openly available, sometimes for as little as 4,
  from a thriving network of cheating websites, the
  Boston Globe has found.

Eastham Zietlow, 2004
Wirzbicki Baron, 2007
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Why NOT online (3)?

• Student can be very remote
• You cant physically monitor
• Headline, July 2007 Poll Tougher catching
  cheating with online test takers, educators say.
• Survey Up to 20 of instructor respondents
  report taking no action when they observe one of
  their students cheating, even when the evidence
  is strong.

Graham, et al, 1994
People who feel more distant may cheat more.
Rowe, 2004
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How do students cheat online?
The challenge KEEP ONLINE LEARNING OPTION,
BUT REDUCE ONLINE CHEATING

• Unauthorized help during tests
• Including assignments
• Taking tests as a group
• Receiving exam Q ahead of time
• Student completing the course is different from
  registered student
• Unauthorized material during testing
• Textbook
• Accumulated printouts
• Internet searches

Cline, 2006
Online students may have extra work pressures.
Rowe, 2004
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Online cheating prevention kit (1)
Requires joint commitment of instructors,
administr. leaders, and students

• MAINTAIN CONSTANT OVERSIGHT. STAY ON GUARD
• Remember the lessons of the student-athlete
  cheating story
• The violations focused on
• (1) a poorly structured online course,
• (2) lack of attention to detail by a faculty
  member, and
• (3) insufficient oversight by thedepartment on
  one rogue tutor,
• all coming together to result in a contaminated
  class.
• Warning The university left online security
  entirely up to the instructor

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Make sure your program is debugged.
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Online cheating prevention kit (2)
Continuous assessment makes it less
cost-effective to involve others in a
cheating scheme (Rowe, 2004)

• Clearly state honesty expectations up front, with
  consequences of cheating
• Instructors may need reminder, too
• Give frequent assignments for multiple grades
• Each single assigment makes the final exam
  less important (Morgans Law)
• Helps to better link student to instructor and
  student to other students
• More assignment grades also serve to build
  student reassurance of successful progress

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Online cheating prevention kit (3)
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Fact-of-life Multiple-choice questions make
cheating easier, in the classroom or
online.

• Design assessments for more critical thinking
• Easy-to-grade format is easier to corrupt
• Short answer and essay, rather than
  multiple-choice
• Change the online course details each time
  offered
• Change assessment details each time
• Different writing projects
• Different problems to solve

Cizek, 2001
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Online cheating prevention kit (4)
Different options in each type of course
management software. You must know and use your
options.

• For term papers, ask for outline and rough draft
  before final paper is due, to monitor progress
• Set the course management testing module for
  increased security
• Random order for presenting questions
• Set option to disallow printing of questions
• Disallow multiple attempts
• Set limited time period for the test

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Online cheating prevention kit (5)
Even Blackboard says, the optimal scenario to
prevent student cheating is to give the test in
a lab environment where proctors can monitor the
test (Dennison Univ., n.d.)

• Require all exams to be proctored
• Include ID verification
• Who qualifies as a reliable proctor?
• Require all exams to be completed in person
  at your facility
• Disadvantage Reduces options for more distant
  students (but does reduce cheating)
• Dont fail to monitor test carefully, or you
  might cheat by proxy
• Your inattention increases any student temptation
  to cheat

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Online cheating prevention kit (6)

• For in-person tests of online students
• Include ID verification
• Consider and describe who qualifies as a reliable
  proctor?
• Training in test security for proctor/monitors
• What to look for, how to respond
• Number test booklets and maintain accountabilty
  for each test
• Consider shrink-wrap and bar coding

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Online cheating prevention kit (7)
When tests are administered behind closed doors
with little independent oversight, there are
strong disincentives for educational personnel to
report cheating. (Cizek, 2001)

• Increase security attitude
• Encourage and protect whistleblowers who report
  cheating
• Stiffer penalties for instructors who cheat or
  allow cheating
• Permament disqualification from teaching
• Implement an honor code
• Students agree to pledge with signature
• Delegate suspected cheating investigation to
  independent authority

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Online cheating prevention kit (8)
No technological solution will ever
completely prevent the problemwhether testing
online or traditional means (Dennison Univ.,
n.d.)

• Use technology to reduce cheating
• Story Troy State University camera and software
  technology monitors students at a distance
• Remote proctor 360-degree camera records
  student area for duration of test
• Software locks down files, web browser to prevent
  unauthorized use, with alarm
• Can use biometrics to authenticate ID
• From Software Secure (www.softwaresecure.com)

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Final considerations

• Cheating is epidemic in all student types
• Cheating is also a problem with classroom tests,
  so keep your guard up
• Clearly state your no-cheating policies, both to
  instructors as well as students
• Online assessment is especially vulnerable to
  cheating
• Agencies have primary responsibility for policies
  against online cheating

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The end. Thanks for your support
2008 Pro Board Accreditation Training
Conference Tampa