Teachers Navigate Online Testing

• January 2, 2021

Teachers Modify Online Testing in Many Different Ways

By Jacqueline Zhu

STAFF WRITER

The switch to remote learning has prompted many AHS teachers to use creative methods for monitoring their students during online assessments.

Administering tests and quizzes online has proved to be a great difficulty. Technical issues, time constraints, and the increased possibility of cheating are only some of the challenges teachers face with online testing. Now more questions are arising regarding whether monitoring students is a necessary step or detrimental to the trust between students and teachers.

One of the most common ways teachers track their students is by instructing them to leave their cameras on or tilt their cameras down. “[W]hen [students] start to take the quiz/test, they need to lower the camera to make sure the teacher can see their paper and both hands,” said Chinese teacher, Lin Wu. 

Sophomore Louis Morrison told ANDOVERVIEW one of his teachers has students keep their cameras on during tests to watch for suspicious behavior. He thought this method was effective because of “the scare tactic factor that could lead to some students … deciding not to cheat because they don’t understand how the teacher is using their webcam to identify their cheating.”

Some teachers also use more unconventional methods. 

“[My teachers] create [breakout rooms] in Google Meet or Schoology for each student,” said sophomore Vivian Tang. “Once inside each breakout room, each student will then present their screen and the teacher can then monitor each [students’ screens] for any signs of cheating.”

“I have students use their phone as the camera for the conference – and it is supposed to be directed toward their computer screen and their hands,” said Minda Reidy, who teaches programming and geometry. She uses this method to see if her students’ computer screens move away from the test and to see if their hands move towards notes or near the camera to look things up.

Others rely on the honor system. “Before we take tests, our teachers tell us not to use our notes, search up answers on [G]oogle, not to use lecture notes, etc.,” said sophomore Dhriti Motwani. “There are directions provided to us before we take our tests.”

But Math teacher Stephanie Ragucci told ANDOVERVIEW that relying on the honor system may be a little naive. “I think what [teachers] really need is some sort of a lockdown browser that would allow students to only be in the assessment they are working on,” she said.

Many students feel the measures their teachers take to prevent cheating are necessary and effective. “[These] methods are necessary because even though tests are online, students can tend to search up answers and get them right,” Motwani said. “But in the end, students are not learning and just creating bad habit[s] for themselves.”

“I think it is necessary to implement this rule since it would mean that everyone is taking the test equally and without outside resources,” said Tang, adding that she believes the methods are efficient in ensuring there’s no cheating.

Many teachers have stated the frequency and length of assessments given has reduced since the switch to remote learning. “In the past, there [would] be one quiz every two weeks in general, while now, it [is] one per month,” Wu said. “For Chinese, students usually have a vocabulary quiz and a general quiz, while now, it will be one or in other formats as assessment.”

Ragucci is moving to smaller assessments since the larger ones take too long to grade. She has been giving out fewer assessments in general that would be considered a quiz or a test. “These crazy times have forced us to learn to assess differently than we are used to,” she said.