Students visiting the computer-based testing lab in Himes Hall may notice something baffling – the addition of clear films over the computer screens.
The films, known as “screen bafflers,” are the lab’s newest weapon to discourage cheating, as they make it impossible to see computer screens to the left and right of the one where a student is stationed, according to Harley Anton, testing lab manager. The view is blocked because of the film’s coloring, which appears opaque if viewed from any angle other than head-on.
Anton said the addition of screen bafflers may seem superfluous to students when considering the other measures the lab takes to stem cheating, but he attributes their necessity to high-volume testing times.
“During finals there are 20,000 students testing,” Anton said. “We try our best, but we can’t guarantee you won’t be sitting next to someone taking the same test as you.”
Anton said the lab’s efforts to supervise testers include randomly assigning students computers, roaming prompters and monitoring an army of video cameras trained on various locations in the center.
“We show you that you’re on camera when you enter the center, but we certainly don’t show you every camera angle we have,” Anton said.
Anton said there were additional precautions the lab used to ward off cheating but declined to comment on them in order to keep them effective.
Every cheating violation in the center runs through Anton’s office. He said the bafflers may have already helped decrease cheating in the center.
“From an anecdotal standpoint, I can tell you that there seems to be less cheating this semester than last semester,” Anton said.
Joy Wills, mass communication freshman, said she appreciates what the lab does to stop cheating but isn’t sure any additional measures are needed.
“I feel like they don’t really need any further precautions because they already have people walking around looking at you,” Wills said.
Anton said students who may object to the center’s security tactics should know that their Student Tech Fee is not contributing to monitoring purposes.
“The Student Tech Fee has never paid for a prompter,” Anton said. “In the lab, the fee is only used to buy new computers.”
The computer-based testing lab spent $121,907 in the 2010-11 fiscal year on computers, according to a report on the analysis of revenue and expenditures for 2010-11 projects funded by the Student Tech Fee.
Anton said the lab tries to replace one-fourth of the lab’s computers with new ones every year. He said changing out the computers is necessary because of the external sources many of the lab’s tests use.
Mymathlab.com is one example of an external source used for math testing. The external source software is constantly evolving and requires more speed and memory with every update. Anton said the main reason computers are bought is to keep up with this software.
 
—-
Contact Josh Naquin at [email protected]