[mlpoknbji]

The commenters lamenting this trend presumably have not given a takehome assignment to college students in recent years. The problem is huge and in class tests are basically the only way to test if students are learning. Unfortunately this doesn't solve the problem of AI assisted cheating on in-class exams, which is shockingly prevalent these days at least in STEM settings.

[refulgentis]

I'm curious, how is AI assistance on an in class exam even possible? I can't picture how AI changed anything from, say, post-iPhone. i.e. I expect there to be holes in security re: bathroom breaks, but even in 2006 they confiscated cell phones during exams.

I guess what I'm asking is, how did AI shift the status quo for in class exams over, say, Safari?

[i_am_proteus]

People bring in second phones: one to have confiscated, one to use on the exam.

A common mode I have seen is phone in lap, front-facing camera ingests an exam page hung over the edge of the desk. Student then flips the page and looks down for the answer.

[djoldman]

It's relatively straightforward to immediately suspend test takers for a semester and expel them on a second infraction.

Administrations won't allow it because they just don't care enough. It's a pain dealing with complaining parents and students.

In any case, cheating has existed since forever. There is nothing much new about cheating in in-class exams now with AI than before without.

[refulgentis]

I am amenable to this argument (am GP), however I do think this is unique.

AI is transformative here, in toto, in the total effect on cheating, because its the first time you can feasibly "transfer" the question in with a couple muscle-memory taps. I'm no expert, but I assume there's a substantive difference between IDing someone doing 200 thumb taps for ~40 word question versus 2.

(part I was missing personally was that they can easily have a second phone. same principle as my little bathroom-break-cheatsheet in 2005 - can't find what's undeclared, they're going to be averse to patting kids down)

[pragma_x]

Seems easy to thwart with two exam proctors, one at each end of the exam room. Hypothetically, the whole affair is going for maximum manual effort (grading), so why not double down on test-taking labor too?

[i_am_proteus]

It's thwartable with adequate proctoring. I know about this mode because I found students doing it, and the students in question endured substantial academic consequences.

Large lectures have hundreds of students, and to properly proctor an exam for one of these classes, one needs dozens of proctors.

It can be done, but observe: for most faculty, maintaining the integrity of their course does not aid them on the path to tenure/advancement.

[bigmattystyles]

Kaplan (?) seems to have this figured out. When I went in for GREs 15ish years ago, it felt like going into a minimum security prison. I could see those being popular as interview centers. Big company pays some company certified to provide AI free certified interview rooms.

[everybodyknows]

Why would anyone downvote this thoughtful question?

[refulgentis]

Been here 15 years and there's just more voting based on gut vibe the last year or two. I don't really comment that much anymore after a crazier incident a month ago.

Feels like when /r/nba got too "joke-y" for me to participate. Asking a question without performative vulnerability that sounds fake to most will sound "aggressive" or "putting down" to most in a generic social environment. (i.e. one where loudness / randomness / 'being polite', i.e. not asking questions or inducing cognitive load rule)

Thanks for noticing and saying something. Ngl it made me feel bad like I did something wrong.