University students, staff concerned over increased surveillance on exams

University students and staff across the country are concerned about increased surveillance on examinations, saying they can be overly-sensitive and cause undue stress during tests.

University students and staff across the country are concerned about increased surveillance on examinations, saying they can be overly-sensitive and cause undue stress during tests.

The alarm comes as Canadian universities try to stamp out growing rates of academic misconduct since the pandemic pushed classrooms online. Growing accessibility to artificial intelligence has provided new ways to cheat on tests.

The University of Regina is in the midst of investigating about 50 alleged academic misconduct cases in its faculty of nursing.

Cheryl Pollard, the dean of nursing, said the cases stem from online final exams taken in December, and only make up about one per cent of the total final exams taken last semester.

The school uses a proctoring software to monitor and prevent cheating. The software video and audio records the students while they take the test and flags any suspicious behaviour, including if a student looks away from the screen, gets up from their seat or talks to someone else in the room.

"Then those are the videos that we will further investigate," Pollard said.

The faculty is working to complete the final few investigations, but Pollard said most of the cases found grounds for academic misconduct. Those students will have to retake the course.