Letters | Online exams make it easier to cheat, but AI invigilators only add to students’ stress

Readers suggest appealing to students’ academic integrity to prevent cheating, call for an investigation into how the electoral office handles voter information, and warn that public feedback is neither quick nor always better

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Remote exams can make it easier for students to enlist the help of ghost writers, but cheating can jeopardise a student’s future. Photo: Shutterstock

Published: 2:30pm, 8 Apr 2022

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In a few weeks, higher education students in Hong Kong will be sitting their online exams at home, or wherever they feel comfortable, with next to no invigilation. We may therefore expect to see some cases of cheating, the most commonly-used method being ghost writing.

Institutions around the world, including the Graduate Management Admission Council (which runs the GMAT exam) and the College Board (which runs the SAT), have implemented online proctoring in recent years. Researchers have found evidence that it can reduce academic misconduct, but its effectiveness comes at the expense of personal privacy violation.

If you search “online proctoring” via Google News, you will find pages of editorial content on student petitions against the use of automated proctoring tools.

My employer has practically ruled out the use of remote proctoring services, unless it’s a request from a professional body such as Hong Kong Institute of Certified Public Accountants. Personally, I agree with this approach because everyone in Hong Kong, students included, is already stressed-out by the pandemic.

Remote proctoring via these online tools – which record a video of test-takers via their webcams and detect what is open on their screens – will simply make students feel more anxious and uncomfortable.