hankyoreh

University students taking an exam. (Hankyoreh archives)

Students at Inha University, Sogang University, and Seoul National University and other South Korean institutions of higher education have been caught cheating on online exams, forcing universities to explore their options.

On June 3, the Hankyoreh confirmed that universities that had caught groups of students cheating on their recent midterm exams, held online, and are working on measures to prevent cheating on final exams, scheduled for the end of June.

Cheating by medical students has caused Inha University to announce plans to hold final exams in person. The university believes that having staff on hand to proctor exams is the best way to prevent cheating.

Korea University, Kyung Hee University, and Hanyang University are also planning to hold in-person exams, while Seoul National University and Hankuk University of Foreign Studies are giving professors the discretion to decide whether to hold exams online or on campus.

The universities that still plan to hold tests online are developing measures of their own. For example, Sungkyunkwan University will be monitoring its online exams by confirming test takers’ identity and checking their workbooks via a video conferencing platform. Sungkyunkwan is also encouraging professors to assign essay questions instead of short-answer questions.

A large number of universities are taking a wait-and-see approach. “We haven’t changed our basic stance of administering tests online and grading on a straight scale. We’re keeping an eye on other universities as we look into ways to prevent cheating,” explained an official at Sogang University.

Students want their schools to find a way to ensure fairness while still holding tests online because on-campus testing could lead to clusters of COVID-19 infections. Two students who took an on-campus test at Gachon University tested positive for the disease.

On Wednesday, a committee of student body presidents at Seoul National University’s colleges said the university should hold all final exams online out of respect for students’ concerns. More specifically, the committee asked the university to grade on a straight scale in all subjects, to hold open-book tests online, to deal with cheaters who turn off cameras or mute their microphones on Zoom (a video conferencing program), and to come up with other options, such as having students turn in research papers.

One potential strategy is using online monitoring platforms such as Proctorio, which is used for exams at some American universities and corporations. This program can stop students from cheating on an exam by blocking them from accessing other internet browsers and monitoring their line of sight.

But this program requires real-time monitoring of the webcam; current location; mouse location; movement of the test taker’s head, eyes, and mouth; all content on the desktop; and internet history, prompting criticism that it collects too much personal information.

By Chai Yoon-tae, staff reporter

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