New Analytics Tool Tracks Cheating Patterns for Online Testing

Online proctoring and identity verification company Examity today launched examiDATA, a data platform designed to "aggregate and analyze information on test performance and academic integrity." The tool examines information from hundreds of thousands of students at colleges and universities across the country to discern test-taking patterns, measure the rate of test-taking violations and help institutions benchmark against their peers, according to the company. Cheating information is broken down by category, such as tuition level, type of school and department of study.

In an initial pilot study of 325,000 test-takers in the 2015-2016 school year, examiDATA revealed that cheating fluctuates from semester to semester, with the percentage of students with violations coming in anywhere from 5.49 percent to 6.65 percent. "From time of year to type of institution, test violations fluctuate in ways that are critical to understand in order to ensure the continued success of online learning — but often remain invisible without the support of predictive analytics," said Michael London, president and CEO of Examity, in a statement. "Armed with insights into student performance trends, colleges and universities can use examiDATA to address specific pain points and further improve the security of their online assessments."

"The explosion of online education has allowed us to make huge strides in supporting a growing population of nontraditional students," commented Lauren Cifuentes, director of distance education and learning technologies at Texas A&M University. "However, data-driven approaches that shed light on macro trends in online test security remain nascent. The insights surfaced by examiDATA will play a critical role in validating the work of our team and students relative to other institutions."

For more information, visit the Examity site.

About the Author

Rhea Kelly is editor in chief for Campus Technology, THE Journal, and Spaces4Learning. She can be reached at [email protected].

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