ndallen@contact.uucp (Nigel Allen) (03/23/91)
From: James K. Huggins <huggins@zip.eecs.umich.edu> With the recent discussion on voting-by-phone in RISKS, I thought the following (excerpted) article, taken from "U.: The National College Newspaper" might be of interest to readers. "Test Taking Goes Touch-Tone": Seema Desai, _The_Daily_Pennsylvanian_ (student newspaper of the University of Pennsylvania) At Governors State U., a wrong number can cost students more than a quarter. It can cost them their grade point averages. The small university near Chicago recently adopted a telephone system that lets students take multiple-choice exams over a touch-tone telephone. Donald Fricker, a management professor who spent about two years developing the application, said students call a special number and respond to recorded multiple choice questions by pressing digits on their phones. The system, named Big Mouth, has been in operation since this fall, and four professor currently use it to administer exams. Fricker said more than 100 students in classes ranging from psychology to management have taken exams on the system, adding that most students have responded positively to the new technology. [student and faculty testimonial deleted] Some students and faculty have raised concerns about abuse of the system. Currently, students have to enter their social security number to access the system. Students are on their honor not to cheat, Fricker said. And because students have only five seconds to answer, Scherzinger said cheating is difficult. [quote deleted] In the near future, Big Mouth will have the ability to repeat questions and accept short essay answers. Fricker said he also plans to add more security measures to the system, including offering multiple versions of exams and giving each student a special security code. [...] Despite some of the system's drawbacks, Scherzinger said he thinks it will gain wide acceptance in the academic community. "I personally believe that the system will come to every college within the next 10 years." The RISKS here are abundant: students hiring other students to take their exams for them (a risk that is somewhat minimized by an in-person exam) using their identification number, students deliberately using someone else's Social Security number to flunk the exam for them, and students recording the exam as it is being given in order to distribute copies to their friends. I hope Big Mouth never comes to Michigan. Jim Huggins, Univ. of Michigan (huggins@zip.eecs.umich.edu) [This is getting to be an old-hat topic. But it will recur. PGN] [Moderator's Note: Governors State University is a school here in the Chicago south suburban area. PAT]