re: online exams in college - how do they prevent cheating?

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am I missing something or is there newer software these days to help prevent?

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They typically make the test short enough and complicated enough that you have to know the material and recall. Beforehand I typically had to go through the book and highlight what I thought might be on the test.

Some of my classes that had online texts had the functionality to turn off the search feature as well (even on the Cengage app).

Others gave you the option of going to a nearby campus to take it in person and proctored. And it usually cost to do so.

My tests online were typically tougher than the ones I took in person. As was the work I did for the course. But I was also taking classes that consisted of content that translated well online.

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do I want a doctor that can critically thinks about my case or one that uses webMD?

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Obviously not, but I also don’t want a doctor who got his degree online.

But for business management or something similar, who gives a shite?

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Uhhhh. Pretty sure I can google a math problem faster than you can cipher one. Y’all know there’s apps that take a picture of the problem/equation and solve them, right?

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Pretty sure you have never had to solve a problem in engineering or anything beyond intro to physics, solving a equation is only like 1 percent of the problem.

I taught college math and physics, I gave open book tests, and the students were free to bring any other reference they wanted, even with the apps available today, without a thorough understanding of the material you would not be able to pass my tests in the allotted time.

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From what I’ve seen anybody can be a teacher these days

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I guess I would also have this opinion if I never stepped foot in a classroom.

Honor lock. They make you scan the entire room with your Webcam before hand, watch you the whole exam & you have to give them access to your screen. If your eyes look away from the screen too long it's flagged and it's a fail. If you look at a phone it's a fail. If someone screams outside your door it's a fail.

Other classes don't give a shite & they'll just make it open book with a timer.. Those are always harder anyways.

I took an online Microbiology course last fall. They didn't proctor exams and left them open book but there was NO way to look up the answer or google the test in the time allowed. The teacher did not use test bank questions for the tests. It was paired with an in person microbiology lab with the same teacher, the same material was covered in both classes, just in more detail.

Now this past semester with Covid everything was moved online at the last second. One teacher didn't care too much and just made the class open book. 90% of the class was based on writings so it didn't help, it was an ethics class, just a junk filler class. I had one class that the teacher was paranoid about cheating... because they used test bank questions, which it almost doesn't make sense to "write" new questions for a science based course when tried and true questions are available with performance data. These test were done on lockdown browsers, proctored through the webcam and timed. Before the test you had to scan the room you were in, scan the table you put the computer on, show your wrists for any smart devices and you did it again when the test was over. Nobody was allowed in the room and you could have any screened devices in the room with you, no TV, nothing. You could not go back and review the test, once you answered a question you couldn't go back. They were not proctored live... that cost a lot of money, about $35-$40 per test taken. They were suppose to review just exceptions but someone at the school decided to make them go back and manually review all the tests we took. It delayed grades being reported by two weeks.

This upcoming semester as of now science labs will be held in person, didactic content will be live online and things are up in the air about field work.

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Now this past semester with Covid everything was moved online at the last second. One teacher didn't care too much and just made the class open book. 90% of the class was based on writings so it didn't help, it was an ethics class, just a junk filler class. I had one class that the teacher was paranoid about cheating... because they used test bank questions, which it almost doesn't make sense to "write" new questions for a science based course when tried and true questions are available with performance data. These test were done on lockdown browsers, proctored through the webcam and timed. Before the test you had to scan the room you were in, scan the table you put the computer on, show your wrists for any smart devices and you did it again when the test was over. Nobody was allowed in the room and you could have any screened devices in the room with you, no TV, nothing. You could not go back and review the test, once you answered a question you couldn't go back. They were not proctored live... that cost a lot of money, about $35-$40 per test taken. They were suppose to review just exceptions but someone at the school decided to make them go back and manually review all the tests we took. It delayed grades being reported by two weeks.

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You basically solved my intrigue of the subject, nice job

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i mean let's be honest... online testing is nowhere near as legit as when the professor walked around the classroom and i had the formulas wrote under the cover of my TI calculator, now that was a challenge

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I was taking an econ final in Lockett one time and was seized with the worst stomach cramps in my life. I put my pencil down, went up to the teacher (who also happened to be the Dean of the business school: Lamar Jones, TYFS) and told him he could fail me if he wanted to, but if I didn't go take a shite right now this would be a final nobody in the room would ever forget. He let me go and come back to finish it. I guess the cold sweat and blood drained from my face sold it.

I teach high school math, Algebra 2 and Pre-Calc, to be specific. During the online learning when I gave a test, I made them take it live on a Zoom session with their video and audio active. If their video or audio got turned off, I froze their test until it was active again. It was incredible how the test scores came back to the mean once I started enforcing those policies instead of just giving them a 72 hour window to take it on their own time.

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