One of the questions we were asked by the State of New Mexico, "How do you know the actual student took the test and not a surrogate?" As we've been using Moodle for our course management, it's pretty easy. Every action a student takes creates a log file of where the student is in the system, but more importantly what IP address they've accessed the system from. In Moodle there are various ways to sort and segment the data.
When a student takes a test and their log file indicates that the IP address is the same as how they normally log into the system we can be pretty sure it's the actual student taking the test and not a borrowed login. If the student normally logs in from say Clovis, CA and they suddenly log in from Moscow, Russia then it's a good bet a surrogate is taking the test, or they are in Moscow on business.
If a group of students all consistently had the same IP (a shared router in the dorm room), then having the same IP during a test
wouldn’t raise any alarms. However if they generally had different IP addresses and then had the same IP when taking the exams that would cause an alarm bell. Just because there’s an alarm bell doesn’t mean there is cheating. But it would require faculty to take a closer look at test answers, or the standard ways of determining cheating in a classroom situation.
The attached article will let you know that this is an issue about which online colleges and universities are being questioned.
Regards,
Gregory Stebbins
Does Your Instructor Know It's You.doc