Using tools like Lockdown Browser for testing seems like a simple answer to cheating on tests. Your students take an exam online and cannot go to any other sites to look up the answers. Unfortunately, the anti-cheating technology arms race is neverending. Students will often search online for ways to thwart measures like Respondus Lockdown Browser. Students may even try to use their phone to look up answers or text their classmates for help. In addition, using such technology often winds up penalizing the great majority of students who are not attempting to cheat.
Lockdown Browser adds an unavoidable extra layer of complication and stress to test-taking. It must be downloaded, and then located on the student’s computer, which will either take up class time or require some form of ‘homework’ assignment to ensure it’s done ahead of the test time. A variety of other applications can interfere, causing error messages that students will need help to interpret and act on, including common security applications such as a Virtual Private Network. Lockdown browser can cause student’s computers to freeze up on an unstable internet connection, sometimes preventing the student from either continuing the test or exiting Lockdown Browser until they restart the computer. At that point, the instructor is included in the headache, as accommodations for an extra attempt must be made. Lockdown Browser also does not stop students from using a second device to search for answers. It was designed to be used in a controlled environment such as an attended computer lab or monitored testing facility. In any other environment, it’s useless.
Using open-book assessment design, instead, can alleviate the need for a Lockdown browser, and cut the technology arms race short. Open book tests do not test simple memorization, but rather application of the theories and concepts covered in class. This may seem like an answer that only really applies to essay tests, in which what is assessed is the student’s verbal comprehension and expression, but it can also be applied very successfully to STEM courses, as the LSA Biology Department’s Cindee Griffin has done. Take a look at her Faculty Spotlight to learn more!
In-class discussion of the importance of academic integrity is also a very effective measure for deterring cheating. As educators, we want to encourage students to be good scholars, and trust them to exercise their own study skills and mental agility when taking exams. One way to do this is to remind students of their commitment to academic integrity, and ask them to think about why it’s important. You might start by referring them to the LSA information on what is considered Academic Misconduct. Some students may be honestly unaware that some forms of collaboration or internet searches are not acceptable in academic settings.
If you’d like to discuss design for open-book assessments, the Learning and Teaching Consultants will be glad to help! You can request a consultation here.
