Trusting the exam is about trusting the questions and not worrying about the student ...

There is an academic nirvana in the world of distance education. We would love to avoid the tradition of face-to-face proctored examinations. Yet because of our notion of trust, we worry that every student is going to cheat.

If you had the opportunity you would cheat and I am sure that I would too, While we can become very moral, righteous and somewhat indignant. We are all capable of subterfuge if the stakes are high enough and the risk of being caught sufficiently low enough that we are willing to consider the risk.

We impose all manner of checks and balances and strive to create the perfect assessment that would reflect the students cleverness. But what if we stopped and took another approach ...

Could we create an assessment where we no longer care how the student does it - the fact they have done the assessment offers sufficient authenticity. What are the elements of trust - is it time, potential for plagiarism (copying from others) and having a surrogate pretending to be you and take the assessment on your behalf.

What are your thoughts?


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