We have been experimenting for the past year at Southern Illinois with using
our computer lab for taking law exams...and while the results have generally
been positive, the potential for cheating (yes, even at the home of the
Salukis!) remains one of many concerns.
The primary concern, cheating, is still a possibility, but students are
required to read guidelines and sign a request/contract (that I developed)
that reaffirm their committment to the honor code. Each student is given a
clean diskette for exam use, and the hard drives on all computers are checked
for personal files (there is no way that I can guarantee that personal files
are not later placed on the hard drives, especially since the lab is open 24
hours, but have not yet noticed any problems). Students are required to turn
in their printed exam answers, as well as their diskettes.
Other concerns: the process is labor intensive. The Registrar must deal with
yet another exam location, and additional proctors are sometimes required.
Although students are presumed to have been acquainted with the technical
niceties of word processing and general computer lab procedures, I usually get
one or two that have no idea what they doing...I try to discourage these
students from using the computers for exams.
I worry that a computer disaster (network, diskette, hard drive error) will
ocurr when I am not around (of course, this does not mean that I can fix it),
and we do not always have "Computer literate" staff to deal with potential
problems. One did occur last semester, when a student's diskette failed after
he saved his only copy of his exam...fortunately I was able to retrieve the
file using DOS Utilities, but there is always the potential for bigger
problems...like network failure...or power surges, etc. Students assume most
of the risk when using the computers for exams (it's in the contract), but
there are some things that even law schools cannot disclaim liability for
(especially when it's not the student's fault).
We have had to conduct a lottery for those times when more students have
wanted to use the computer lab for exams than computers available. And there
have been some concerns expressed about the fairness of this, as well as
allowing students to use spell-check and nifty laser print fonts to enhance
their exam answers. There have also been complaints from students about not
being able to use the computer lab when it is reserved for exams.
Utilizing your computer lab for exams may open up a really big can of worms...
but so far we have not had major problems. Many students have commented that
using the computer helped their grade...and faculty like the fact that they
can read the exam answer (at least one faculty member suggested to two of his
students that, given their handwriting, it would be a good idea to use the
computer for the final exam).
James E. Duggan, Computer Services Librarian (618) 453-8791
School of Law Library (TELEFAX) (618) 453-8728
Southern Illinois University (Bitnet) DUGGAN@SIUCVMB
Carbondale, Illinois 62901 (Internet) DUGGAN@SIUCVMB.SIU.EDU
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