<p>Wouldnt cheating in online classes be extremely easy? Im talking about history and concept based classes. Not like physics, math, etc..</p>
<p>I mean I know a ton of students who rack up online classes finishing them in about 10 days. I mean are the tests even regulated or atleast timed? For example, like in an AP history class, all you do is look up the answer and thats it....</p>
<p>As a student at a virtual school (K12) because of a disability (essential tremor), I must say it is invitingly easy to cheat. Although I have never done it myself, a quick browse through yahoo answers during the “school year” would show hundreds of results regarding posted tests, quizzes, and even some labs. </p>
<p>Honestly, K12 doesn’t have the best “security.” As a rising sophomore, only one class this past year (Honors English) used an advanced security measure, aside from the universal test timer which locks you out after 30/60 minutes depending on the length of the test/quiz. The English class used Examguard, a program that basically locks you out of any other function on your PC until you submit the test. Of course, this can be abused too, if you simply have access to another computer or laptop somewhere near. </p>
<p>A different curriculum set I had to use was Advanced Academics, because a few K12 courses weren’t state accredited when I took them. (They are now.) AA approached the problem differently, randomizing tests with random questions from the unit. Although I liked the AA’s UI far more than K12’s, the questions were quite stupid. One of the classes I took through there was World Geography. Probably the easiest core class in high school turned into a nightmare because of the randomized tests. </p>
<p>The units were about 20 pages of reading. One thing I learned throughout the year was that it was all factual based. Every single sentence written was turned into a test question, requiring you to memorize every little useless fact about anything. Not only that, but they made the questions as deceptive as possible. For example, there was one question about Gandhi that looked something like this.</p>
<p>What didn’t Gandhi preach?</p>
<p>A. Celibacy
B. Non-violence unless absolutely necessary
C. Vegetarianism
D.Truth</p>
<p>The answer is B, but you could easily fall for something else as a fault of memory or quick reading. </p>
<p>To answer your question, cheating is pretty easy. I wish there were better measures to combat against it, as it’s quite annoying when a good amount of your class does it.</p>
<p>When you take an online class, the screen should lock or something, so you can’t close the page. But that’s bad, when you have to cheat in an online class. But it all falls down on the students, there’s nothing the school can do if the student didn’t take it seriously. It’s their education they’re losing.</p>