Chadron ITV's Profile

The following is some code that will block screen printing and copy/paste
activity if it is inserted into one question box in a Blackboard test. Standard
disclaimers go here but it works for me. I put it into the question box ahead of
one of the questions that is on a test. It does not print with the question when
the test is taken. You may have to try a place or two but it seems to do just
fine. I suppose it is “old tech” but at least it makes copying a test more
inconvenient. Bennett Willis Brazosport College

BODY {display:none}

var message=”Function Disabled!”;
function clickIE() {if (document.all)
{(message);return false;}}
function clickNS(e)
{if
(document.layers||(document.getElementById&&!document.all)) {
if
(e.which==1||e.which==2||e.which==3) {(message);return false;}}} if
(document.layers)
{document.captureEvents(Event.MOUSEDOWN);document.onmousedown=clickNS;}
else{document.onmouseup=clickNS;document.oncontextmenu=clickIE;}
document.oncontextmenu=new
Function(”return false”)
function disableselect(e){
return
false
}
function reEnable(){
return
true
}
document.onselectstart=new Function (”return false”) if
(window.sidebar){
document.onmousedown=disableselect
document.onclick=reEnable
}

Online testing: Only way to secure it is with randomization from a large bank
of questions and a tight time limit. In addition to IPods, attempts to cheat
that I am aware of are:
1. Several students go to one home, bring laptops.
One opens the test, and as they take it some others will look up answers to
questions for the test taker. The rest will copy down the questions. Other than
the first student, the rest all have many or all of the questions and answers.
This works unless everyone has to take the test simultaneously, which doesn’t
match the model of online learning.
2. Students take turns in the class
asking the teacher to “reset” the test because they submitted it by accident
before they were finished, had a technical problem and their computer shut down,
etc ad nauseum. During that time the test is originally open, they copy the
questions. If a terst is not submitted using Blackboard, it does not record the
selected answers nor amount of time the student was in the test, so you can’t
check for the plausibility of their explanation. When the student(s) retake it,
they have looked up the answers. To avoid scrutiny, they sometimes work in
groups so they rotate who makes the request. Working together and rotating who
requests also evades any course policy that limit test resets.

I was truly shocked to see that cheating isn’t a lone activity anymore – it
is a cooperative group activity. Any class where students know each other is at
greater risk for cheating. I have backed off of discussion groups/interactive
activities in online classes so as not to encourage students to meet each other
online and hatch these schemes. Keeping them isolated from each other is safer
for cheating, even though it is less adventageous for learning.