Sunday, April 29, 2007

Using iPods to cheat

Reading into a set of decisions across schools, one realizes the limitless scope of usage of modern technology and how a younger generation is the one which can more easily adapt to these devices, while the authority group is the one which keeps on playing catch-up.
What happened? Well, schools across the country are banning the usage of digital media players in schools due to their potential usage for cheating. It seems very obvious though: These are kids with a very comfortable way with technology, able to be much further ahead than their teachers in their utilization of technology, including misuse. Read this article here:


Banning baseball caps during tests was obvious -- students were writing the answers under the brim. Then, schools started banning cell phones, realizing students could text message the answers to each other. Now, schools across the country are targeting digital media players as a potential cheating device.
Devices including iPods and Zunes can be hidden under clothing, with just an earbud and a wire snaking behind an ear and into a shirt collar to give them away, school officials say.
Mountain View recently enacted a ban on digital media players after school officials realized some students were downloading formulas and other material onto the players.
Some students use iPod-compatible voice recorders to record test answers in advance and them play them back, said 16-year-old Mountain View junior Damir Bazdar.
Others download crib notes onto the music players and hide them in the "lyrics" text files. Even an audio clip of the old "Schoolhouse Rock" take on how a bill makes it through Congress can come in handy during some American government exams.

These media players are very small, and can be hidden very easily. In addition, the functionality available with these players makes it very easy to cheat, you can record answers as a music file, can stores answers in lyrics, and so on and so on.
However, this fight between technology and people in authority is going to be increasing difficult. What happens when you get watches that can act as an interface to a music player, and what happens when you get sunglasses capable of acting as media players.
This problem will not go away. The better solution is to re-structure learning in such a way that people are quizzed on application of what they learnt rather than having to remember things exactly as they are. What will happen when the iPhone becomes available ?

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