Cheating by Technology in National Examinations-Kenya
2.0 BACKGROUND AND OVERVIEW
In my practice as a supervisor in the Kenya National Examination Council (2007) Secondary Examination briefing on conduct and ways of curbing exam cheating, I rose to ask the participants made of among others, quality Assurance and Standards officers, supervisors, invigilators, security officers and the District Education office personnel, whether other than the common use of the SMS to transmit messages as a source of cheating, how much do they know about blue tooth gadget? The response left a lot to be desired as virtually less than 5% of the participants had a vague idea of what this is and its capability in being used in exam cheating. This is just but a technological issue on exam cheating.
According to the research done by Synovate, under its research club of Kenya project observed;
“…students want the 8-4-4 system urgently reviewed….most high school students feel that the subjects taught are irrelevant and there is too much emphasis on exams.”(Daily Nation 9th, October 2009:8). According to usnews.com website posting on August 20th 2009 on a report titled “one third of the teens use cell phones to cheat in school -on education: “… forget passing handwritten notes underneath desks or inking your arm with essential maths formulae before a killer test. If a student today wants to cheat, they have a more insidious tool at their disposal. Cell -phone. More than one third of teens admit using cell phones to store information on them to look at during a test or texting friends about answers.”
The cell phone which comes in many shapes and function-ability seem to pose the greatest threat to examination honesty. Given the way the young stars are even more conversant with their ability than the teachers. Statistics from the same web site indicates: …student who admit cheating with cell phones are: 26 percent say they store information on their phone to look at during the test, 25 percent text friends about answers
In my practice as a supervisor in the Kenya National Examination Council (2007) Secondary Examination briefing on conduct and ways of curbing exam cheating, I rose to ask the participants made of among others, quality Assurance and Standards officers, supervisors, invigilators, security officers and the District Education office personnel, whether other than the common use of the SMS to transmit messages as a source of cheating, how much do they know about blue tooth gadget? The response left a lot to be desired as virtually less than 5% of the participants had a vague idea of what this is and its capability in being used in exam cheating. This is just but a technological issue on exam cheating.
According to the research done by Synovate, under its research club of Kenya project observed;
“…students want the 8-4-4 system urgently reviewed….most high school students feel that the subjects taught are irrelevant and there is too much emphasis on exams.”(Daily Nation 9th, October 2009:8). According to usnews.com website posting on August 20th 2009 on a report titled “one third of the teens use cell phones to cheat in school -on education: “… forget passing handwritten notes underneath desks or inking your arm with essential maths formulae before a killer test. If a student today wants to cheat, they have a more insidious tool at their disposal. Cell -phone. More than one third of teens admit using cell phones to store information on them to look at during a test or texting friends about answers.”
The cell phone which comes in many shapes and function-ability seem to pose the greatest threat to examination honesty. Given the way the young stars are even more conversant with their ability than the teachers. Statistics from the same web site indicates: …student who admit cheating with cell phones are: 26 percent say they store information on their phone to look at during the test, 25 percent text friends about answers
References: Aduda, D (2000, September 4th :) Computer Studies Getting Popular With Teachers. Athanasou J.A et al (2002) Male and Female Differences in Self Report Cheating. Practical Assessment, Research and Evaluation. Retrieved October 4, 2009 From, http://www.PAREonline.net/grtvn.asp?v=8&n=5 Cizek, G.J. (1999). Cheating on tests: How to do it, detect it and prevent it. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Creswell, John (2005) Educational Research, Planning, Conducting and Evaluating Quantitative and Qualitative Research David, D, V (2002) Survey in Social Research.5th Ed. Allen & Unwin. St Leonard’s Franklyn-Stokes, A Gaberston, K.B. (1997). Academic dishonesty among nursing students. Nation Reporter (2009, September 29) Examination Officials have been asked to be Wary of New Form of cheating Ohio State University (2009, August 12) Epidemic of Student Cheating Can Be Cured With Changes in Classroom Goals http://www.sciencedaily.com/release/2009/08/090810025249.htm Oyoo, S.0 (2009) Research Design and Methodology Lecture Notes Randy, L.G and Beverly, A.M (2009) Beliefs and Behaviors Associated With Cheating Research Paper http://www.caveon.com/citn/?cat=2 Robinson, C (2002) Real World Research