Promoting Academic Integrity in Online, Open-Note Exams without Surveillance Software

While online exam proctoring and surveillance software exploded during the Pandemic, two University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC) chemistry professors who teach the largest course on campus (800+ students), have developed an interesting approach to online exams that does not use surveillance software. Instead, they’ve developed a bank or pool of more than 1,400 original, authentic questions that are similar in rigor and concept, but vary in question prompt details and related “correct” answers. These incrementally different Q&A sets feed four different, 20-25 question, "open note" exams or “learning checkpoints” throughout the semester, each of which consists of five parts and is distributed to four randomly assigned groups of students, no two of whom receive the exact same test. To top it off, students can’t even access the exam without first signing an honor pledge, which research has shown can inspire student to not only do their best, but also be their best. A screencast video demo of their approach -- referenced in a 10/26/20 Washington Post article -- can be seen at https://doit.umbc.edu/news/?id=97023.