THE JAMES BOND-STYLE TECH USED TO CHEAT IN EXAMS
Last
year Chinese authorities released pictures of James Bond-style technologies
used by students during competitive exams. These included sophisticated vests
that link up to a button-hole camera hidden in a pen or watch, used to beam out
images of the exam paper to someone outside the hall with a receiver.
The
person outside then looks up the answer to the question, and relays it back to
a mobile phone hidden on the pupil in the exam hall. The speech is picked up
via the mobile, and then sent on to a hidden earpiece.
Officials
have launched a crackdown on those helping students to cheat during the
'gaokao'.
In
the past criminal groups have been found to be selling stolen exam papers and
launching cyber attacks on exam board websites.
Smartwatches BANNED from exam halls: Universities
start to prohibit technology to stop cheaters
Several universities are banning
smartwatches in a bid to stop students cheating in exams, it has been reported.
Two universities in Australia are
the latest to join the ever-growing list, with one telling students they must
stow their watches in a clear bag under their chair.
This means that even students that
might have used a regular watch to time themselves will no longer be able to at
certain institutions.
The two Australian universities are the University of New South Wales and La Trobe University in Melbourne, Mashable reported. ‘Due to advances in watch technologies the UNSW exams rules have been updated,’ the UNSW posted on their website. ‘No wrist or handheld watches are to be worn or placed on your desk during exams. ‘Watches of any kind must be placed in a clear resalable bag under your exam chair before the exam begins.’
La Trobe University is slightly more lenient, allowing students to place regular watches on the desk in front of them. Smartwatches, though, are not permitted to be taken into the exam hall by the university.
The fears come as the technology
allows people to easily search online for the answer to a question, unbeknownst
to the invigilator. In the past, students may have preferred to write notes on
their arms or palm, but now smartwatches provide a new avenue for cheating.
Until recently, most types of
smartwatches were allowed in exam halls. However, schools are now starting to
treat them in the same way as mobile phones, which are already
prohibited.
These are not the first institutions to ban the emerging technology from exam halls. Earlier this year, London City University was among one of several in the UK to ask students to hide their smartwatches from view - the same rules as for smartphones. And in more extreme measures to stop cheats, just a few weeks ago it was revealed that drones were being used to spy on pupils in China.
China monitors university entrance exams with drones to catch cheating students
Nearly 10 million Chinese students sat the annual make-or-break university entrance exams, known as the gaokao, or "high test", on Monday.
Authorities have become increasingly concerned about the risk of students using devices such as smart phones — some of which have become smaller and easier to hide — as an illicit aid during tests.
The exam is the only method used to gain entry to the nation's universities, which for poorer children can mean the difference between a white-collar office job and a life as a migrant labourer.
Officials in Luoyang purchased a drone designed to search for radio signals that could indicate cheating students. It would monitor signals from 500 metres above the test site, the paper said.
Photos on the website of the government-run China Daily showed radio engineering technicians using computers and scanning devices to search for signals that could be used to transmit answers to students.
A college student posing as someone else was caught at one test centre, and gave police the names of five other substitute test takers.
Meanwhile, Beijing deployed 17,000 police officers to redirect traffic and increase security at the testing sites, and also set up service stations to treat anxious parents should any suffer heart attacks, the city government said in a statement.
Security at test centres is extremely tight and in the past some schools have banned any metal from the exam room, leading to a prohibition on metal bra clasps.
In past years cheating devices have been found to be sewn into clothes.
Smartphones, social media helping
students cheat in exams: University of Sydney report
August 2015
The internet and smartphones have made it easier for students to cheat in exams, a new report into academic misconduct at the University of Sydney has found.The report followed investigations into ways to prevent and detect academic dishonesty and misconduct among students at the university.
The Academic Misconduct and Plagiarism Taskforce completed a number of investigations during May and June 2015, including interviews with representatives from each of the university's 16 faculties.
The report, An Approach to Minimising Academic Misconduct and Plagiarism at the University of Sydney, states, "The problem of cheating in exams is not trivial — a study on multiple choice exams within the university revealed an average level of cheating of about 5 per cent".
The report found social media helps students share stolen exam papers and questions quickly, with several cases of this reported across the university. "Computer security breaches where exams can be stolen are also not uncommon, and any exam that is not changed constantly should be assumed to be in the public domain."
The authors of the report found exam supervision must be rigorous, devices should be confiscated and recommended a solution be found to prevent students using toilet breaks to search the internet for answers.
The report also looked at other forms of fraud and dishonesty, such as fraudulent medical certificates and other methods used to obtain special consideration.
"This can occur in relation to any assessment task, but a large area of concern for faculty is in relation to exams, particularly where students who have attended an exam subsequently claim illness and apply to re-sit the exam at a later date.
"Where the medical certificate has indeed been issued by a medical professional in good faith, there is little that can be done, even if the staff member suspects fraud. "There are also cases where such certificates are faked or even sold."
The report made a number of recommendations covering education, assessment, record keeping, coordination, support and policy changes. Among the recommendations was a suggestion to incorporate at least one tutorial or lecture session in the first year of every course for training in academic honesty matters.
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