![]() ![]() Jakob McWhinney’s biweekly education roundup. “And people who have some sort of facial disfigurement have special challenges they might get flagged because their face has an unexpected geometry.” ![]() “This obviously has a disproportionate effect on Black and Brown test-takers,” said John Davisson, a legal expert and senior counsel at Electronic Privacy Information Center, a nonprofit based in Washington, D.C., whose work is focused on the privacy and algorithmic aspects of these proctoring systems. For starters, facial detection and facial recognition technologies have been widely criticized in the last several years for having inherent biases against people of color, often misidentifying or unable to recognize the faces of Black and Brown people as accurately as White faces. Privacy advocates have been raising alarms about this type of technology and how easily it’s infiltrating the lives of students during a public health emergency. Because the new digital tools are required in certain courses, students are being forced to subject themselves to surveillance inside their own homes and open themselves up to disputes over “suspicious activities,” as defined by an algorithm.Īccording to the company website, Respondus Monitor uses “powerful analytics … to detect suspicious behaviors during an exam session,” and then flags such behaviors for professors to review once the session concludes.Īt the self-described “heart” of the company’s monitoring software is Monitor AI, a “powerful artificial intelligence engine” that collects facial detection data and keyboard and mouse activity to identify “patterns and anomalies associated with cheating.” In the swift and chaotic pivot to virtual test-taking, companies like Respondus - along with competitors including Honorlock, ProctorU and Proctorio - have stepped in to help schools keep watch on students. Molina didn’t think much of the company until he started using its monitoring software for a business administration course over the summer and his webcam became a device to observe, record and study him during an exam.īy the end of the semester, Molina was the subject of multiple cheating accusations that consumed his academic life. As required in one of his online courses, he downloaded and began using the Respondus LockDown Browser, custom software that prevents students from venturing outside of their testing page to ward off cheating. Brews & News: Voice of San Diego Live PodcastsĮven after his classes went online last spring, William Scott Molina, a 31-year-old student at San Diego State University, thought his remote learning experience was going just fine.College Students Are Learning Hard Lessons About Anti-Cheating Software Close ![]()
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