In addition to video cameras, test proctors and phone signal detectors in the bathrooms, the Office of Assessment and Evaluation added phone scanners to its list of test security equipment in the spring of 2016.
The phone scanners that detect metals inside cell phone antennas as well as Apple Watches. Testing lab manager Derek Wilson said even while test-takers’ devices are turned off, the phone scanners can still detect phones. The scanners are passive metal detectors, he said, meaning there are no health risks to students during the screening process.
“Unlike conventional metal detectors, the ones we use at check-in are entirely passive, emitting no signal or fields, so there are no health and safety concerns when scanning students,” Wilson said. “They also [have] no effect on electronic devices such as pacemakers and are harmless to pregnant women.”
The phone scanners retail at $10,000 each, but Wilson said the testing center bought the demo versions of the scanners so the price was less than half the retail cost. While the equiment is used to keep students from cheating, the phone scanners also help keep students from being accused of cheating, he added.
“It’s as much about test security as it is for student security,” Wilson said. “If we see a cell phone out we have to assume they’re using it, and even if they’re not, it’s for their own benefit to have it turned off so the students are not accused of cheating.”
The testing center also has 30 cameras that can zoom in “pretty close,” Wilson said.
“I’ve read writing on people’s hands and cellphones from 100 feet away,” he said. “Someone will try and hide a cell phone in their lap, or they will try and hide it under a calculator cover, and I’ll just zoom in and take a picture.”
The testing center also phone detectors in the bathrooms of Himes Hall. These phone detectors can detect phone signals sent through bluetooth, Wi-Fi and even airplane mode. Like the phone scanners, they can detect other devices such as Apple Watches.
Kinesiology sophomore Allyson Cambre said she has never seen the phone scanners enforced in the testing center.
“I’ve seen them, and I’ve seen them go off, but I’ve never actually seen anyone say anything to anyone,” Cambre said. “Of course, I’m not in there all the time, but I’ve never actually seen anyone get in trouble.”
Cambre said she normally keeps her phone on silent and in her backpack while in the testing center. While she keeps her phone off in the testing center, psychology junior Emily Braun she has several friends that keep their phones on silent when they go into Himes. Braun said the phone scanners are “overkill.”
“If they are watching you that closely, and I know they are in the testing center, then I don’t really understand why they would need to spend thousands of dollars on equipment that would detect something so specific,” Braun said. “They could catch this through their other precautions they are taking to prevent cheating.”
LSU Testing Center utilizes phone scanners at front desk to ensure phones are turned off
By Katherine Roberts | @krobe844
January 18, 2017
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