struct credentials to authenticate facts founded in 1995 as a correspondence cise. Th e questions come from a data-
about you that in an earlier time, or in a school and now 100 percent online. base developed and maintained by Mike
smaller world, would have been authen- Kassner off ers, “We used to proctor every Jortberg’s unit, which gathers public
ticated by the knowledge of the commu- exam.” He adds that such close monitor- information from the worldwide web.
nity about who you are.” ing produces high costs and student in- “Typically we pose three random chal-
Lessig’s book focused on the needs of convenience. “Students complained that lenges and give the student two minutes
the fi nancial and retail industries, where ‘I can do all the course work at my kitchen to answer.”
the vendor and the customer have always table, but then I have to go somewhere Does it ever happen that your system
shared a strong interest in authenticated else to take the tests.’” produces incorrect information, I ask
identity. A correct identifi cation of the him. “Yes, occasionally,” he allows. What
buyer by the seller is now crucial to in- Proctoring is at best about legal liability? Dr. Jeff Bailey,
ternet commerce. Online learning, says a stopgap measure formerly with National American Uni-
Michael Jortberg, an Acxiom executive, Th e drawbacks of proctoring are exacer- versity, says, “We told students up front
“poses the exact same problem… only bated when curricula are delivered glob- that challenge questions are a reasonable
diff erent.” ally. Larry Dugan, Director of Online alternative to proctoring, and they could
Jortberg explains that opt out. No one opted
higher education is unique in out and we had no com-
that a customer may be mo- plaints.” A click-to-accept
tivated to mislead the seller
about his actual identity. Since The industry convinced
agreement includes acqui-
escence to the “challenge
our customers may be more question” component, and
interested in buying a creden-
tial rather than our principal
ED that a user ID and
it’s a common safeguard
used by Jortberg’s client
product – knowledge – a sig- schools.
nifi cant percentage of them
are likely to cheat.
password were suffi cient.
None of the Acxiom cli-
ents I talked to reported any
How serious is the problem legal hassles with the “chal-
of cheating in testing and as-
sessment of learning? A 2008
Mike Jortberg, Acxiom
lenge question” approach,
but some are not satisfi ed
U.S. News & World Report with exclusive reliance on
study reported that 56 percent this methodology. Don
of graduate business students Kassner says, “We combined
admitted to cheating at least once. Fift y- Learning at Finger Lakes Community the Axciom product with webcam.” In fact,
four percent of engineering students and College off ers, “We give tests all over the he tells me, Andrew Jackson combines
45 percent of law students made the same world. Let’s say I needed a proctor for an three techniques to monitor midterms and
admission. Contrast those fi ndings with exam in Tokyo. I’d have to identify and fi nal exams, which are the only assessment
a study authored in September of this hire that person. If I put the job on the tools for most of the university’s courses.
year by three faculty at Friends University faculty, they wouldn’t do it right. And it First, the faculty member administer-
titled Point, Click, Cheat: Frequency and would be very expensive.” ing the exam is able to see and hear the
Type of Academic Dishonesty in the Vir- Clearly, for online learning to grow student. A photo is on record for com-
tual Classroom. “Results suggest that the and prosper, face-to-face proctoring had parison purposes.
amount of academic misconduct among to yield to a more modern replacement. Second, the student must answer the
online students may not be as prevalent as Axciom off ers one very intriguing solu- challenge questions.
believed.” tion. When a student sits down at the Th ird, the teacher is able to see what
If the latter fi ndings are true, perhaps keyboard to take a test, he is faced with the student is seeing on the computer
it’s because online educators are taking a series of “challenge questions” in quick screen. Th e student can’t bounce to
cheating very seriously. Don Kassner is succession. If he answers correctly, he Google and look up an answer.
president of Andrew Jackson University, may proceed with the assessment exer- Andrew Jackson’s one-two-three
20 T
oday’s
C
ampus subscribe at no charge at www.todayscampus.com
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