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Distance examinations have opened the door to cheating at the University of Nantes. In a press release, she regrets “an increase in the rate of fraud” during exams for this semester marked by an unprecedented health crisis. Several students have been suspected of plagiarism during their distance exams.
During the coronavirus crisis, the University of Nantes set up a distance education and assessment system. To communicate lessons to students, teachers used the Madoc educational platform, which they used before the pandemic. This platform was also requisitioned for the end of semester exams. Files, tests, multiple choice questions… Students had to log in to gain access to their subjects.
And for the few students who did not have an Internet network to be able to work, the university set up the “SOS Connection” device, ensuring them access to 4G keys. No more excuses to be able to connect to the platform and write the requested assignments.
Antiplagiarism software
But performed remotely, these assessments lacked control. In its press release, the University of Nantes declares that it “has a very strict policy in the fight against fraud”. She therefore acquired software specialized in the detection of plagiarism, Magister de Compilatio. It allows you to locate the “copy and paste” and to find the sources of the plagiarized document.
This software has thus enabled the university to detect the cheating of several of its students, belonging to different UFR (training and research unit).
Sanctions will be applied
According to the regional daily Ouest-France, more than 250 students cheated, among the 38,000 students to have taken their end-of-semester exams remotely. Thus, 0.65% of them would have opted for the facility: fraud. However, the university is not yet able to confirm the number of students concerned, nor the penalties that will be applied. The sanction will be systematic but will depend on the content of the fraud as well as on the decision of the UFR concerned.
The university specifies that it is a “usual cheating”. Home examinations have led to an increase in this fraud, but it was already present before. However, according to the university, “these isolated cases in no way reflect reality”.
