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jurpral@s... - what about security - cheating prevention?

jurpral@s... - what about security - cheating prevention?

by Arnold Pizer -
Number of replies: 0
inactiveTopicwhat about security - cheating prevention? topic started 8/16/2004; 3:12:22 PM
last post 8/17/2004; 1:20:56 PM
userjurpral@s... - what about security - cheating prevention?  blueArrow
8/16/2004; 3:12:22 PM (reads: 1048, responses: 2)
Hello,

serious question for WebWork popularity.

Our Uni this Year starts to use automated math quizes for evaluation. Dean of Funamental sciences faculty said they looked at ~20 systems and chosen EDUCampus http://www.brownstone.net/products/edu/. Why not WebWork I asked? One of the biggest priorities was security (prevention of cheating) as better grades meen bigger scholarships. Commercial companies guarantee those security issues, while GPL nature sais "its Your own risk - time will show".

who, in Your opininion, could/should give juridical guaramtees, so my dean could turn to OpenSource without worry?

I also mentioned this in moodle site, there was a topic about nesw LE for math, where WW is welcome very much :) http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=10894#53823

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userMichael Gage - Re: what about security - cheating prevention?  blueArrow
8/16/2004; 3:59:58 PM (reads: 1313, responses: 0)
WeBWorK has been used much more for homework, rather than for exams -- hence super-high security has not been necessary.

EDUCampus may well work better for exams. For example, WeBWorK does not yet have a facility for allowing a proctor to verify the submission of an assignment. Gavin LaRose is working on "gateway" test which will have some of this functionality, but it will not be ready to run at Michigan for a few weeks yet, and it will probably be another month or two before it will be ready for distribution, (except for those interested in helping to complete the project).

When used as homework, we have not had any serious security issues in 7 years. Some of the larger institutions (OSU? Indiana?, Arizona State?) might like to comment on this issue.

-- Mike

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userGavin LaRose - Re: what about security - cheating prevention?  blueArrow
8/17/2004; 1:20:56 PM (reads: 1327, responses: 0)
Hi All,

At the University of Michigan we're currently using WeBWorK for homework and MapleTA (basically EDU) for testing applications. This is only because we need a proctored test which can draw problems from a testbank, features which don't (yet) exist in WeBWorK. I'm not sure that commercial software offers any stronger guarantee of security than does open source: the license for MapleTA includes all of the standard disclaimers, viz.,

...you assume the entire risk as to the use and performance of the software or documentation in terms of correctness, accuracy, reliability... The Software may store the names, ID numbers, test results, and other information of Registered users. Neither MAPLESOFT, nor its suppliers nor partners, warrent or represent that this data is held securely against loss or unauthorized access.

Of course, it's reasonable to suppose that a commercial software provider does have a strong incentive to ensure that their software is not beset by security flaws. I'll eschew the obvious Microsoft joke here.

Best,
Gavin

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