LSU professors, students weigh in on constitutionality of room scans for online exams – The Reveille, LSU’s student newspaper

NPR reported in August that a Cleveland State University student won a lawsuit after suing his college for asking him to take a video of his surroundings before an online proctored exam.

He said he felt his Fourth Amendment rights protecting U.S. citizens against "unreasonable searches and seizures were violated, according to the article.

As conversation sparked around the country, LSU professors and students weighed in on their thoughts about online proctoring.

David OBrien, director of Testing and Evaluation Services at LSU, said this court ruling could possibly put students at more of a disadvantage than professors as physically monitoring tests can be more expensive and time-consuming than remotely monitoring a test.

If the ruling in Cleveland began to make a bigger impact throughout the nation, making universities no longer allowed to offer online, proctored tests, the availability and cost of online learning could be affected.

OBrien said there is always a balance between providing a secure testing environment and an invasion of privacy for students. He said room scans are enforced to help ensure room security for the student testing in the room.

There would need to be an alternative in cases where the student is unwilling to have the room scanned, OBrien said.

Another way to proctor tests, OBrien said, is the LSU Testing Center, a secure testing location where students could be tested online and monitored in person.

He suggested that universities like LSU should provide testing rooms in libraries or quiet areas. A student could take their online proctored test in this room and deal with no privacy issues.

He also said the ruling could affect the potential for students to cheat on exams, as they might still take the tests online, and they would no longer be proctored.

OBrien said cheating on exams could create an unfair academic environment, lowering the value of grades received and degrees earned. He said it gives no more value to cheat your way to a degree than to simply print out a degree on a piece of paper.

Students who cheat are in fact cheating themselves and their fellow students of the quality of the degree they earn, OBrien said.

Charles Cloutier, operations coordinator of the Department of World Languages, Literatures and Cultures at LSU, said he agrees with the judge's ruling that individuals have a right to privacy in their own homes. He said that the proctoring company had gone too far in storing data in that students room.

I find it very unreasonable for students to have to show their entire room for a single test, Cloutier said.

Cloutier suggested that the best solution for proctoring online exams is being proctored by another person over Zoom. The student would share their screen with the proctor, and the proctor could assess whether the student was using unapproved materials during the exam as well as look for signs of cheating and dishonesty.

He also said that in the future, students and professors could think about completing exams via virtual reality. The student would be unable to use their notes with a headset covering their eyes.

I believe with VR, higher education would be able to control the test-taking environment to a higher degree, Cloutier said.

In terms of cheating, Cloutier said that although the inability to control the testing environment could lead to individuals cheating on exams, students will always find a way to cheat.

We really should not be policing students, but rather trying to instill a sense of integrity in them, Cloutier said.

Stacia Haynie, a political science professor at LSU, said she believes colleges will adapt just like they did during the COVID-19 pandemic. She said universities could require students to still utilize software at local libraries if they were uncomfortable in their own homes.

She also said universities could require students to agree to online monitoring when they schedule the course.

If you are aware of the requirement, you are waiving the expectation of privacy, Haynie said.

In terms of cheating, Haynie said professors learn strategies to limit it, and students learn strategies to increase it.

Biochemistry freshman Antonio Zavala said that while he agrees with the court ruling, he understands this was during the COVID-19 pandemic, a time when testing in person was not always feasible. The student had no say in whether he tested at home or in a monitored area.

Zavala said that the court ruling over this matter puts students and the education system in a sticky situation as students might start having less of an option to test outside of campus.

It can be assumed that a larger amount of students will cheat until a superior method of proctoring is discovered, Zavala said.

Zavala said that he hopes software with advanced face recognition systems could be the key to preventing students from cheating while also abiding by the Fourth Amendment. He said that regardless, he believes the education system will find ways to adapt.

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LSU professors, students weigh in on constitutionality of room scans for online exams - The Reveille, LSU's student newspaper