gregh  2007-11-16 16:00  final_exams  Law_School  macintosh  securexam   

These are the instructions for downloading and installing the software needed to take your fall semester final examinations using your laptop computer.

Requirements: PC computer running MicroSoft Windows XP or Vista, or an Apple Macintosh. An active USF wireless account.

Finally, in the first semester of my fourth year, I get to take my only final exam on a Macintosh. If I get my desired schedule for next semester, I won't have any finals to take.

So, while I'm happy they made this move, sooner would have been nice.

gregh  2007-07-29 23:08  barexam  cheating  Law_School  securexam   

From the folks who brought you the botched New York Bar Exam, I found this gem:

Technology has created improved methods of cheating, but it can be used to prevent cheating as well.

For example, our Securexam product suite prevents students from cheating on exams -- blue book or within course management systems like Blackboard and WebCT. In fact, it is widely used in law schools in large part because the students want it. They want the level playing field that the assurance that no one can cheat provides.

And just as importantly, technology like Securexam lets the professor focus on his principal job -- teaching the students and assessing their performance, not performing a forensic investigation to determine whether or how students may have cheated.

Ignoring for a moment the unsupported claim that students love their technology, I'm amazed a company would claim that they've created a product that "prevents cheating." I wonder how they've done that. I am particularly curious about how they've done that simply by locking down the computer sitting in front of a student while an exam is being taken.

In part, it's clear they believe that cheating can be prevented by observing a student; just look at their Remote Proctor:

The Method: Through a unique combination of Software Secure’s patented Securexam Browser software in combination with a patent pending USB-connected device which performs fingerprint authentication and real time video and audio monitoring of the exam time conditions, SRP is able to provide both convenience and integrity to test takers in remote locations.

• SRP locks down online quizzing and testing tools so nothing else can be accessed on the computer during a test.
• SRP’s fingerprint scanner authenticates the identity of a test-taker before gaining access to the test.
• SRP’s real-time video and audio of the exam room captures all suspicious behavior for a remote exam proctor to review.

Clearly, they're really trying to instill a false sense of security and honesty. They do nothing to combat low-tech approaches to cheating. And in the process of foisting their crappy software on unsuspecting students everywhere, they increase exam anxiety, the costs of giving exams, and limitations of user choice.

Now, were law students really clamoring for this software? I doubt it. What I'm sure they've been clamoring for is a solution to handwriting exams in bluebooks.

They aren't offering perfect security; far from it. It's clear from their propaganda that they have absolutely no clue what security it. What they're selling is a facade. They help people feel that things are secure by limiting the easy paths to cheating. Clearly, many people have been duped.

gregh  2007-07-25 20:22  barexam  Computing  Law_School  securexam   

Law.com - First Day of N.Y. Bar Exam Marked by Software Snafus:

Test takers who typed the essays on the New York state bar examination into their laptop computers this week experienced problems saving their work and uploading the files for transfer to graders, the chair of the Board of Law Examiners acknowledged Wednesday.
...
The board suspects that a flaw in the Secure Exam software provided to test takers by Software Secure Inc. is responsible for the computer glitches, said Diane Bosse, chairwoman of the Board of Law Examiners. Even as the board was administering the second day of the two-day bar exam Wednesday, officials were trying to determine how many test takers were affected by the software problems and whether any of their essays would be lost.

Because there aren't enough pressures when taking the bar exam, lousy software also comes into play. Securexam is the same thing we use for our final exams, and even on our limited scale, and even with requirements to do practice tests prior to exams, we still have people with problems.

As I've previously written, I find the whole notion of locking us down somewhat offensive. However, I guess for the bar exam, with thousands of people, policing the situation in a nearly anonymous environment might be near impossible.