Students push back against cheating software

Educators are fighting cheating with software, but students are fighting back.

Online learning and test-taking have opened new doors for the ancient art of cheating. To fight it, some schools require students to take tests over webcam while professors or teaching assistants observe. But according to TechDirt, a growing number of institutions are using anti-cheating software instead, which uses a mix of human proctors and algorithms to spot what they classify as signs of cheating.

These online proctoring companies use webcams, microphones, and algorithms to monitor eye and head movements, background noise, mouse movements, scrolling, and keystrokes. The software flags suspicious behavior for instructor review. Even something as simple as multiple users taking the test on the same network, connectivity issues, or too much background noise can be flagged, according to the Washington Post.

Meanwhile, the popularity of online proctoring software continues to grow. According to EdSurge, the online proctoring company Proctorio is partnering with McGraw-Hill and other textbook publishers to include its software with courseware, meaning that even homework may be tracked for cheating in the future.

As the software has gained popularity during the COVID-19 pandemic, students say that it violates privacy and causes intense stress for test-takers, according to the Washington Post. And according to NBC News, students have little recourse when penalized for things beyond their control, like interruptions or unconscious behaviors, such as reading out loud. The anxiety they experience while trying to satisfy the software’s demands, they say, is too much.

According to the Electronic Freedom Foundation, dozens of petitions are circulating at colleges and universities to abandon platforms like Honorlock, Proctorio, ProctorU and Respondus. And some schools are receptive to the complaints — The City University of New York recently decided that professors cannot require students to use online proctoring software.