Schools faced significant challenges at the start of the Covid epidemic when they were forced to use remote learning owing to prolonged lockdowns. In addition, schools that used online classes depended on restrictive softwares to prevent cheating during online tests.
During mentally taxing tests, the applications Pearson VUE and Honorlock detect eye movements and even crying. But unfortunately, these tracking softwares have significant drawbacks.
In a video, Josef Fruehwald, a University of Kentucky professor, claimed that it is absurd to rely on such tracking software. His video received 2.3 million views and dozens of comments from terrified students.
“One of my French tests got flagged for cheating since I was crying for the whole thing, and my French prof had to witness 45 min of me quietly sobbing,” one person wrote.
“Since COVID, LSAT uses a proctoring system,” another said. “I was screamed at because I had a framed quote from my grandmother on the wall.”
One student stated a proctor instructed them to change into “something more conservative” during the exam, which took place in the student’s apartment.
Fruehwald ended up getting so many messages that he formed a Twitter thread of all those complaints. Some Twitter users also voiced their displeasure under the thread.
“My husband has two classes left for his BFA, and one of them is a math class that requires an assessment test before enrolling,” wrote one person.
“He should have graduated two years ago, but he couldn’t take the friggin math class because THE SOUND OF HIS LAPTOP’S FAN SET OFF THE PROCTOR SOFTWARE.”
Many elements of society have been affected by the global epidemic, and education appears to be one of the most affected domains. So it’s obvious why instructors are leaving their jobs and why students are screaming and crying into eye-tracking systems.