Post #4354562

2026-07-26 17:57 UTC

Yeah, it’s interesting seeing some professors complaining about how AI has made catching cheaters harder now. But then you see that they are letting students have access to phones and laptops during exam with no software/Internet restriction and you think…yeah I wonder why…what could possibly be done… Not allow them those devices for a subject like history during an exam? No impossible. When I brought it up here a teacher went lol but they have phones and tablets. As if its not worth even trying to prevent. And also they said they didn’t want to do paper and pencil either because its too much work to grade. There are programs that completely lock down laptops for exams preventing you from using internet, going to the desktop, open other docs, etc so its not like it has to be paper and pencil to prevent AI usage. But, its like some professors just can’t wrap their head around the concept of not allowing full access to electronics or none at all despite the subject matter not being something like programming, but history.

Replies (1)

@WoodScientist@lemmy.world 2026-07-27 04:40

Seriously. I taught university courses for several years in the mid 2010s. I didn’t have to worry about AI then, but I did have to worry about cell phones. I learned the hard way that during exams, crafty students could take pictures of the exam, upload them to chegg, and get responses back live during the exam time. Eventually I moved to a zero-tolerance policy for all electronic devices during exams. There’s no way for me to determine if someone is using a phone for cheating or something innocuous. So during exams, I simply had it as a policy that, “having a cell phone or laptop anywhere on your person or desk IS cheating and will result in an instant zero on the exam.” Keep your damn phone in your bag during exams. I put this warning in my syllabus, wrote it all over the exams, and gave repeated verbal warnings to students. No one went into this surprised. The last thing I ever wanted to do was bust someone for an innocent mistake. But if I caught you with a cell phone? Even if I never saw you using it? Simply having a cell phone out of your bag during an exam is a zero. Hell, I took this so seriously that I came up with my most evil policy ever - the bounty system. See your neighbor with their phone out? Rat them out and I’ll give you ten extra credit points on this exam. They have to worry not just about where my eyes are, but the eyes of everyone else around them. That’s right students, we’re going full prisoner’s dilemma. I’m not trapped in here with you, you’re trapped in here with me!

Open ##4354561