Online tests through canvas

Question

My school uses canvas and next week I have an online test through the system. My professor said that he is able to see if students are cheating through the analytics of his canvas account. I am not planning on cheating, but I was wondering what a professor can see so he doesn’t accuse me of cheating. For example, can he see if I have other tabs open or if I get notifications? Or was he just trying to scare us? Thanks!

gnoack · Accepted Answer

Hi @shido321

It'd be best to ask your professor what you should do to avoid looking like you are cheating.

Unless the professor is using a test proctoring service (and you would know if they were) or other tool that I may not know about, the only analytics I know of is that instructors can review a quiz log of your progress through the exam. They can see what what order you answer questions and if you click away from the quiz to view another web page or application.  The problem with this is, if you get a notification during an exam, you may have to click it to get back to your exam.  If this is the case, I would recommend you turn off your notifications before beginning the exam. There are other issues as well.

I've posted a guide to this below.  Note, Instructure, the folks who make Canvas, do not recommend using this tool for quiz integrity.  If this is in fact what your professor is using, you might politely and respectfully let them know this. (see the guide)

"Quiz logs should not be used to validate academic integrity or identify occurrences of cheating."

https://community.canvaslms.com/t5/Instructor-Guide/How-do-I-view-a-quiz-log-for-a-student/ta-p/580