Newsletter & Updates
03/13/20
‌
Moving to Remote Assessments with Integrity
These are challenging times as the University quickly moves to remote instruction for WI20 final exams and SP20 instruction. We know you care about academic integrity, so here are 5 tips for protecting integrity while assessing remotely.
Tip 1. Choose the Right Assessment for Your Class

Consider alternative assessment methods to the traditional exam delivered in-person. There are multiple possibilities, not all of which will work for each class.
However, if you choose to deploy a traditional exam in an online setting, use Remote Proctoring services to ensure integrity. UC San Diego uses ProctorU and Xamity.
Tip 2. Consider "open notes" exams
Restricting the sources students can use while completing remote assessments may not be the best option. Instead, consider making your assessment "open notes", allowing students to consult any sources they want (including other students).
  • For "Online Exam: Set of Questions/Prompts" assessments, sources may not be that helpful anyway given the time limitations.
  • With the "Online Exam: Written or Project" or "Take Home Final" assessments, add a section that asks students to list all the sources they used to answer the questions.
  • Add questions to promote honesty and "meta-learning" like:
  • how did the sources help or hinder you?
  • pick a question that was especially difficult for you and explain your process for answering it
  • choose a question you would rewrite or eliminate from the exam and explain your rationale
Tip 3. Promote Integrity
Tip 4. Conduct integrity checks
Use your traditional and maybe some new practices to check for integrity.
  1. For smaller classes, follow-up with each student via Zoom to talk through at least one of their answers. If the student can talk about it, and how they know what they know, this can indicate that they completed the exam with integrity.
  2. Use Turnitin (in CANVAS) for any narrative exams and check all assignments (not just those with a certain percentage similarity).
  3. Use "horizontal grading" (credit: Todd Kemp) - each IA grades the same questions on all exams so that unauthorized collaboration or copying on exams can be detected (consider using GradeScope for STEM/math-based exams).
  4. If using a CANVAS quiz for your exam, use their metrics and logs to check for signs of integrity violations
  5. Check for contract cheating using these tips
Tip 5. Report all suspected integrity violations
Our superb quality and reputation can only be sustained if faculty and students commit to academic integrity. For students, this means that they complete all of their exams in a way that honestly and fairly demonstrates their knowledge and abilities at that particular moment in time. For faculty, that means that they work to design and deliver final exams in ways that uphold integrity, and they check to ensure that those exams were completed with integrity. It also means that faculty will report all suspected academic integrity violations to the Academic Integrity Office, even in these difficult times. Any extenuating circumstances will be considered during the sanctioning phase of the process.