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I’m just glad I got through medical school without having to deal with most of this, but we too had examsoft and canvas - just a whole lot less software supervi

I’m just glad I got through medical school without having to deal with most of this, but we too had examsoft and canvas - just a whole lot less software supervision and always proctored in person. I don’t understand why the policy wasn’t to just close all other browser windows/tabs before starting an exam. Maybe it was? Or better yet - if medical schools really want to do this kind of testing remotely, provide your own devices strictly for testing instead of requiring a device with a backup! We didn’t pay 40-50k a year to deal with this nonsense.

unishark 5y ago
I think the problem was that students need to also have a smartphone or something available during the test for questions and announcements or something, since the software locks down the testing computer. And there was no way to prevent people from looking stuff up there. Anyway, once they do impose this requirement to not access canvas, a cheater would just make it available offline. Ultimately the way professors spot cheaters is in their patterns of answers.
asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago
Another possible solution to this problem -- one some gamers are starting to use to fend off accusations of cheating -- is to set up a separate camera recording oneself and the screen. It's not a perfect solution but it could potentially rule out some false positives.
- phobosanomaly 5y ago
  This is standard procedure for many medical school exams during COVID. Examsoft locks down your primary device, and you have a secondary device (smartphone/other laptop) pointed at you throughout the exam with a live video stream to the proctor. Each student does a 360 of their workspace prior to beginning the exam, and they are recorded throughout. From the article: "To hinder online cheating, Geisel requires students to turn on ExamSoft — a separate tool that prevents them from looking up study materials during tests — on the laptop or tablet on which they take exams. The school also requires students to keep a backup device nearby. The faculty member’s report made administrators concerned that some students may have used their backup device to look at course material on Canvas while taking tests on their primary device." I'm not sure what's going on here. The med school I'm affiliated with has students running the live video stream to the proctor through the secondary device. I guess Dartmouth wasn't doing that, but was having students keep it nearby only as a communication device in case WiFi went down or something? Either way, the fact that they've taken students in one of the most competitive and stressful post-graduate programs in the country, told them to sit at home for a year-and-a-half and teach themselves medicine, and subjected them to a scored STEP 1 the year before it goes pass/fail is beyond fucked.
  - namelessoracle 5y ago
    The 360 always seemed like pointless theatre to me sense its done at the beginning and someone else can easily come in and assist after the sweep around

unishark 5y ago

I think the problem was that students need to also have a smartphone or something available during the test for questions and announcements or something, since the software locks down the testing computer. And there was no way to prevent people from looking stuff up there. Anyway, once they do impose this requirement to not access canvas, a cheater would just make it available offline. Ultimately the way professors spot cheaters is in their patterns of answers.

asdfasgasdgasdg 5y ago

Another possible solution to this problem -- one some gamers are starting to use to fend off accusations of cheating -- is to set up a separate camera recording oneself and the screen. It's not a perfect solution but it could potentially rule out some false positives.

phobosanomaly 5y ago
This is standard procedure for many medical school exams during COVID. Examsoft locks down your primary device, and you have a secondary device (smartphone/other laptop) pointed at you throughout the exam with a live video stream to the proctor. Each student does a 360 of their workspace prior to beginning the exam, and they are recorded throughout. From the article: "To hinder online cheating, Geisel requires students to turn on ExamSoft — a separate tool that prevents them from looking up study materials during tests — on the laptop or tablet on which they take exams. The school also requires students to keep a backup device nearby. The faculty member’s report made administrators concerned that some students may have used their backup device to look at course material on Canvas while taking tests on their primary device." I'm not sure what's going on here. The med school I'm affiliated with has students running the live video stream to the proctor through the secondary device. I guess Dartmouth wasn't doing that, but was having students keep it nearby only as a communication device in case WiFi went down or something? Either way, the fact that they've taken students in one of the most competitive and stressful post-graduate programs in the country, told them to sit at home for a year-and-a-half and teach themselves medicine, and subjected them to a scored STEP 1 the year before it goes pass/fail is beyond fucked.
- namelessoracle 5y ago
  The 360 always seemed like pointless theatre to me sense its done at the beginning and someone else can easily come in and assist after the sweep around