Online Proctoring Tools Don't Actually Stop AI Cheating
Online instructors are struggling with maintaining academic integrity and observing declining student performance in online courses. They express concerns about AI usage, cheating, rising exam scores potentially due to AI, and a perceived lack of student effort and critical thinking. The shift to online learning presents significant challenges to assessment and student engagement.
SOURCES (60)
“I teach at a community college in STEM (biology, anatomy) and the bulk of the professors use Canvas Quizzes for labs and I did last semester. The issue with this is even with a 10 or 15 minute time limit it’s clear the students are…”
“Hi All, I'm coming off of a 5-week summer course in an online asynchronous program that has me wanting to retire early. This is a graduate program for an allied healthcare field, and it's crucial that students master the info in this particular course as ignorance can cause severe harm, if not death, to future patients. I came up with ways to make the assignments less AI friendly, and I was able to bust many students as a result. I'm spending my Sunday completing reports for 1/3 of t”
“I teach online. Asynch. Online classes have (as everyone knows) gotten atrocious. I cannot ensure the students are learning anything, doing any work, or even engaging with class materials. Basically any type of assessment is now invalid. One thing I occasionally do is look at students' Access Reports in Canvas, to see what materials they have looked at or not. This usually gives context that affirms my sense of the students' work as being AI-generated or otherwise fabricated, versus done”
“My approach for now is to use assessments that make it impossible for students to use AI during the assessment itself. In-class writing with pen and paper is the way I've been doing this but I'm thinking of also incorporating at least one oral exam. I have relatively small classes but I still worry about the feasibility. submitted by /u/umbly-bumbly [link] [comments]”
“Obviously I'm not talking about satisfying pre reqs like this, just gen eds/electives https://preview.redd.it/2toi585dpohh1.png?width=600&format=png&auto=webp&s=48fbb1036471d1eda58fec41e7097891160179d3 https://preview.redd.it/26lfn75dpohh1.png?width=598&format=png&auto=webp&s=2b9477ea288e65520d05c8093909370da88a2d40 submitted by /u/henryflint08 [link] [comments]”
“Same. I’ve taken it like 3x, all different pharm classes, for various things. Testing out was not an option.”
“I usually try to avoid them because students often end up focusing more on guessing what the mistake was than on learning the actual concept. I understand why some teachers like them, but I've found that straightforward practice and having students explain their own reasoning tend to be more effective. submitted by /u/Technical-Vanilla-47 [link] [comments]”
“Online exams are a pointless waste of time and invasion of privacy, designed to make money without measuring anything. It encourages good people to cheat. If you don't have in-person proctored exams, you are wasting your time.”
“Do the classes I need to take (like theory/aural, piano, intro to music ed) actually have that much like documents? I know that ENC2135 (english) prob will and maybe my others.”
“I think your under estimating how heavily leet code questions are weighted. It's the only distinguishing factor for many.”
“Literally looking to do the exact same thing but how can you trust this site to not steal your recordings and post them somewhere. And yes I did see how the FAQ said its private but still.”
“I'm teaching an online asynchronous class this summer. I am requiring them to use Respondus Lockdown Browser AND Monitor WITH the dual-camera set-up for their final exam. For the first week of class, I created a "practice quiz" (that wasn't really a quiz at all) just so they'd have to get the set-up prepared for when the exam comes around, and so that they'd know how to work it and what to expect. Fam -- The vast majority of these kids simply (a) angled their second cam”
“If you turn their phone off and make sure they aren't paired to another hidden phone then you only worry about the student recording their own test while they complete it.”
“I’m considering the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign Gies iMBA and had a couple of questions for current students or recent graduates: Are exams proctored (e.g., Respondus, ProctorU, webcam monitoring), or are they generally open-book and non-proctored? How would you describe the weekly course load while working full-time? Approximately how many hours per week do you spend on one course versus two courses? Are there a lot of group projects, and how manageable are they? Overall, would you”
“Hi all, I’m course supervisor of an undergraduate level class that has multiple sections. Some are online and asynchronous while others are classroom based. Previously, all students completed exams online using proctoring software. But the AI use is out of control and I’m sick of it. I can’t really do much with the online section except for implement side view cameras (which I plan to do for fall), but for the in person class, I’d like to go back to paper exams in class. That said, our exams hav”
“Against my will, I have to administer several chemistry exams remotely this semester. I haven't used a lockdown browser or other test proctoring services in years. Which would you recommend? submitted by /u/Fun_Guarantee_7011 [link] [comments]”
“Does your university allow you to do either of these things in an online asynchronous class: - oral exams: student picks an individual day & time (among a number of blocks) and you meet virtually to give an oral exam - virtual group work: students are placed in a group based on availability they provide, and are expected to meet a few times with their group mates to complete a discussion or activity While I can't find anything in our university policy disallowing these things, I have a c”
“Most people my age use ChatGPT to get the answer, screenshot it, move on, and then get wrecked on the exam where there's no chat box. I did exactly that for a semester and my grades made it obvious. So I built a prompt that makes it refuse to just give me the answer and act like a decent TA in office hours instead. Paste this before your question: ``` You are my tutor, not an answer key. I'm going to give you a problem I'm stuck on. Do NOT give me the final answer or full solution. I”
“So i'm teaching just a few labs this summer, where the students' lecture instructor is someone else and online. This topic has come up before, but i'm so disappointed in how I need to use the carrot and stick, points for everything, to get students to do stuff in lab. The normal procedure for A&P labs, everywhere I've worked, is students are given a list of objectives and procedures, and they carry them out with their groupmates. At the end of the day, their entire lab grade”
“I have no problem with it, actually. I think it's very important to assess sites. As a person that got really good grades in high school and found out in college that my A's weren't the same as the A's of my peers, I very much believe that there needs to be a common standard that schools are more universally held to.”
“I am a math tutor in California and many of my sessions are online. Does anyone know of platforms that allow tutors to stream handwritten notes and diagrams in real-time directly from their iPad or tablet? submitted by /u/rickles36 [link] [comments]”
“Long-time reader, first-time poster. About to start my second year as an Assistant Professor, and my institutions offers some opportunities to teach online, asynchronous course as an overload, and I wondered what people's experience was doing so in the last few years, particularly given the rise of AI, etc. I teach in the humanities/social sciences so I feel like it's just very easy to not do the work in these cases. Any advice on things that work for you would be much appreciated.”
“Running an async class for almost two weeks. Only 10% of the students have watched a single lecture video, and only 20% have done even a single online quiz. I just had my first online office hours and no one showed up. Not a single email from a student. Our first midterm is this Friday. It's in person, hand-written (no electronics), and proctored by me, so AI cheating is not an option. I wonder how this will go... submitted by /u/Aler123 [link] [comments]”
“So I was proctoring an exam online, and I asked students specifically to share their entire screen, not just a browser. One student was acting really suspicious on Canvas while taking the exam. He navigated away from the quiz page and come back a minute or so later for almost every question, and I caught him switching to his desktop (he had his notes open, but only irrelevant stuff was written there). I was thinking, if you choose to share only one app on Zoom, I wouldn't be able to see your”
“Once per semester I have an on line test I administer in the classroom. Students get a group of 35 to 45 questions selected at random from the 850-odd-strong pool. Unlike in the US, the university is solidly enrolled, with waiting lists and the like, and every classroom is reserved pretty much every day. This means that for my single class necessitating computers I can monitor, my class is in a computer lab all year. Fair enough. It's been puzzling me why, however, even though all of the stu”
“Just learned my asynchronous online course max enrollment was doubled. How am I supposed to have "meaningful one-on-one engagement" with more than 100 students per week to meet the standard for online courses? (I'm also teaching three other classes, and have no TA.). Can somebody please explain this to me, because Im having serious trouble understanding. submitted by /u/Byrd522 [link] [comments]”
“Hello ! I've recently been given an online screening test to do, rules say that I will be recorded on webcam and screenshare my browser. Fair enough, with Ai its too easy to cheat in these sort of questions, but the rules also say : "Important Note: Please be reminded that the assessment platform includes camera monitoring and tab-switching detection features to ensure assessment integrity. Any form of cheating, assistance, or dishonest behavior during the test will result in immediate”
“I made a mistake and I’m struggling to figure out the right thing to do. Teaching an online asynchronous class this summer. We are requiring students to take in-person proctored exams at the testing center on campus. They have a week-long period in which they can schedule the exam. This requirement is in the syllabus and they had to sign that they understood the in-person testing requirement in my syllabus quiz during the first week. With the important asterisk that they could (if it is absolute”
“Be careful out there, students are finding new and more creative ways to cheat, and they’re talking about it while they’re being recorded during their online testing sessions. I had a student last semester that was moving their camera to make sure that their friend couldn’t be seen during the test. They had a good 10 minute conversation about it before starting the test and cheating. I don’t get angry about these things. I just do what I need to and move on. I love my job and this is just part o”
“In my face to face college algebra courses, the exam average sits at about 70%. In my online classes, the average is closer to 45%. I provide lecture videos, the same guided notes which is intended to be completed while watching the lecture, and many more resources to help students succeed. What can I do to get more out of my online courses? I reiterate over and over again in announcements and course introduction videos how important it is to watch the videos along with completing the notes. Yet”
“I’ve been trying to use ChatGPT/Claude to help speed up my exam marking and lesson slide prep lately, but I’m hitting a major wall. Standard LLMs are way too generic. They either mark way too strictly or way too generously compared to the actual board mark scheme, and the lesson outlines look entirely "AI-generated". Has anyone found a reliable way to force AI to stay strictly anchored to a specific syllabus book, or do you find it's faster to just stick to manual grading and temp”
“Had a cute request from an online Gen Ed chemistry class this summer. Student said she wouldn’t not be able to do the exam in a week because the due date was on a holiday and asked to be able to take the exam the next day. I chuckled a bit and emailed back that to just take the exam early, since it was literally available as per this being an online, asynchronous class. These students can be funny at times. Perhaps thinking the due date of an exam being the only day it could be done? Though a si”
“Hello, I am at a PUI teaching a gen-ed science class in which I have students do active, in-class discussions on worksheets that get them to do conceptual problems. Usually this works pretty well during my fall semester, particularly as I get a blend of science and non-science majors. However, lately in the spring I've been getting incredibly weak students and if people don't engage this whole teaching model falls totally flat. I'd like to have them still do group work but now make i”
“Do any of you have experience with what it looks like if a student uses Einstein to complete their online course? If so, I’d like to hear about it or at least DM about it. I have something that looks suspicious beyond the normal academic dishonesty and I’m wondering if that’s what’s happening. UPDATE: he admitted he used AI to “help” with the course. Wouldn’t say more but was shocked when I showed him the rediculous submission! submitted by /u/Pb412_ga [link] [comments]”
“I am a new professor and this is the first time a situation like this has arisen in my classes. I would really appreciate it if a more experienced professor could grant me their advice on this matter. This student notified me right after the exam ended to ask about her options after being sick during an online final exam. She began her exam with an hour left (it was a 3 hour exam) She said she was feeling nauseous before the exam started. She was not aware of the rules for a deferral and said th”
“Are they strict during online classes? Like you need to open your camera? So that the prof can see you or is it okay to absent sometimes? Di ka naman babagsak agad? submitted by /u/meisanaquarius [link] [comments]”
“Has anyone used proctorU and been successful without a headache at getting logged in? submitted by /u/Effective_Session168 [link] [comments]”
“Hey all ,Those who teach 100% online courses ,how long of a window do you provide for exams ? do you use lockdown browsers during that timeframe? submitted by /u/Fgrant_Gance_12 [link] [comments]”
“I decided to give an oral exam in an online class to see if people were doing the reading or just reading AI summaries. I got a lot of blank stares from students when I asked them if they could say what a "latifundio" was after they had supposedly read a book that uses the word over and over again. I could understand if they recognized the word, but had a hard time defining it, but for most, the word seemed totally unfamiliar. One student asked me "are you asking what's a lot”
“I'm teaching two sections of an online Summer course at a community college and the emails are bad. They're really, really bad. They're asking what "paste the URL" means, they can't open the .pdf, they're replying to my message saying they'll be dropped if they don't log in to our Canvas course by Friday with "How do I do that." They're submitting a corrupt file filled with wingdings, receiving a zero and a comment that the text is unreadable,”
“I'll be teaching a summer course and I'm considering locking each module in the 8 week Communication 101 course (35 students). For those who teach asynchronous courses, have you tried using prerequisite modules in Canvas? I'm considering implementing them and would love to hear about your experiences, including any pros, cons, or unexpected issues. I plan to open each module Sunday evenings, but also want to make sure the students do the work. Last summer I had a student ask could th”
“I'm teaching several async online courses this summer and fall, and, having tried every other anti-cheating strategy (lockdown browsers, version history requirements, etc.) and having found them lacking in light of current cheating methods, I am considering moving to oral exams via Zoom. I'm floating the idea here to get fresh perspectives. These classes are capped at 30 students, and I'm planning to give two oral exams (midterm and final), aiming for a per-student exam duration of a”
“Student: Can you reopen the test? I didn’t pass. Me: I can, but I’d like you to take a little time to review the content first. Student, with a dramatic sigh: But I don’t know it. I just used AI for everything. Me, more shocked than I should be at their complete lack of embarrassment: Okay, so, how do you expect to pass the test? Student: I’m just trying different answers each time. Me: That doesn’t seem to be working for you. Student: Well I don’t know what else to do. Me: Do you think you migh”
“I have a problem and I've been trying to solve it for days without success. I hope someone in this community can help me. I have a website where I create English exams. The problem is that until now I've generated them manually, but when I use AI (GPT 5.5) to generate exams, it produces a perfect format, identical to the exam, but the level is completely different or random. For example, if I ask it for a C2 level exam, it gives me a mix of C2 and B2 level exercises, but it'”
“Please share some lessons learned. This summer I will translate my traditional business baby-stats course to an online async format. I will continue to teach traditionally… using my typical 3 x 50 minute lectures with 40-50 slides. One technique I’m considering for evaluation are 30-45 second oral/video responses from students to online prompts. Such as, “take a look at this chart and tell me what you think” I know we can’t bulletproof against AI assistance, so some tips are appreciated. s”
“I typically grade clicker questions 50/50 participation/accuracy: i.e. even if you answer wrong, you still get half credit, to encourage students to attend lecture. I teach math-heavy engineering courses, so some questions do require calculations, but many are just "are you following along?"-type conceptual questions (and I make the computational questions a bit on the simpler side). I've heard that clicker questions should be graded based on participation only - that expecting stu”
“Hi everyone. Sorry this is a bit long. I'm developing my Majors BIO I with lab (5 credits) for online, both hybrid for lab and fully asynchronous apart from exams being in person (thank Darwin that my chair is awesome). I would love some ideas for content delivery and I am fighting ADHD perfectionism and dopamine chasing, so this could quickly eat my whole summer. I've been teaching the class for 10 yrs in person so I have the content down and I'm using backwards-design, but the LOs”
“Ex. In my undergrad I had a professor who used moodle despite everyone else being on blackboard. I teach using Canvas which is great but the quizzes annoy me. I was thinking of looking into different quizzing software/programs/sites that work easier than Canvas. Anyone find anything good? submitted by /u/Ok_Cranberry_2936 [link] [comments]”
“I teach at a community college in California and we have had a lot of issues with bots/ghost students. I taught Windows OS course last semester and some of my assignments required my students to screenshot specific things and add them to a document I provided to them. One student would turn in a submission that would just be written description of what they should’ve turned it. The first time I was like maybe this student is just neurodivergent. I reached out to them and they never responded. Th”
“I found a great way to stop students from using AI on my online, asynchronous, history exams but there is a problem. I think I got the general idea here. They get a worksheet every week with four questions that they need to answer with a minimum of 150 words each. They can only use the relevant chapter in the textbook, and they have to cite every sentence with the correct page number. Failure to include the correct page number after each sentence or the inclusion of material not in the textbook”
“For context, this would be for 7th/8th grade math. I'm looking for tools that can: (1) Generate an online exit-ticket / quiz for the end of lesson (something students can do in <5 minutes, just 2-4 questions) (2) Analyze the responses (or even just produce results, like a google form) to help me quickly create differentiated groupings for the next day's work period. (If it can also produce material for the different groups, I'm all for it, but that's not as necessary.) I thoug”
“Traditional quizzes output a score. Mine outputs a cognitive fingerprint. The core insight from my research: two students can score identically and be in completely different learning states. One got it wrong and felt uncertain. One got it wrong at 100% confidence. Same score. Completely different remediation needed. I built UnderstandIQ (understandiq.streamlit.app) to capture this. You paste any content, it generates questions across difficulty levels, you answer with confidence ratings, and it”
“... and it is, no doubt: what if transcripts included a 'flag' identifying classes that were taken online? The course number is the same, but it's now obvious what courses were taken in-person. Thoughts? submitted by /u/SNHU_Adjujnct [link] [comments]”
“So I signed up to take the test on 6/25, and I’ve seen the horror stories of people getting hardass proctors who want them to empty their entire rooms or whatever for cheating purposes. I originally wanted to take it in my room on a desk, where the only major screen is a TV (cover with towel, ok) and a bunch of model cars, Amiibos, a PS5/XSX/PS3 and the bed. I’m concerned that imma get a mf who makes me disconnect the consoles and yeet all my stuff out the room. There really isn’t any other room”
“I teach an online 3d course. I have literally everything students need to be successful in an asynchronous online course for summer session. Everything is recorded, with examples, project due dates laid out and easy to find. But we are pretty technical. I am looking for the students to replicate topology patterns and actions in their projects as I am doing in my videos. But. The amount of students that clearly, like I can see the lack of video accessing in Black Board..... is so high. That the w”
“I have been giving online exams through canvas for a couple years now. I allowed my students to take them at home and I felt ok with it due to the tests being on a time restriction. However, last year every single student got 100% on every test. I don't think I'm THAT good of a teacher and I don't think my exams are THAT easy. So I have decided to go to in class, paper exams this year. But in trying to anticipate problems and solutions, what ideas do you have for excused absences on”
“Now I know why y’all drink. I created this class from scratch. Slides, videos, assessments… everything was meticulously designed to disincentivize AI and cheating. So now my naive, idealistic, idiotic *** is buried in “academic misconduct incidents”. I’m so stupid. I should have just imported McGraw Hill connect, grabbed the pay check and went on a cruise. submitted by /u/Educational-Ebb9248 [link] [comments]”