14 replies to this topic

[soul__stealer]

Read the article here.

Summary;
Australian High School principal purchases a signal jamming device and mounts it in the school to prevent students cheating during final exams using their smart phones. Phone carrier notices a drop in signal strength, and alerts authorities regarding the incedent.

Quote

Under Austrian law only police, the military and others in charge of security can jam signals.

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Discuss.

In the age where most, if not all students have access to the internet via a smart phone, the risk of cheating is higher then it was 5 years ago when this technology was new/barely even existed. Personally, I think the idea was good, however it does pose a problem in emergency situations, both within the school (where it would also affect staff phones) and outside the school as I'm sure the device would not have worked solely within school grounds.

I also find it interesting that the phone company was so easily able to identify the cause and report it to higher authorities to act. Especially as they never manage to fix faults quickly when the public complain.

[Yung]

I'm going to say that it is not easier to cheat it is just a different form of cheating with less work involved... I've seen everything from the inside labels of water bottles to the answers being written down on shoe strings.

It is easier than acquiring an answer sheet since you can google questions and normally get an answer or pretty close to an answer.

I think that the teacher doing the Signal Jammer is awesome and that was really thinking outside the box on how to handle cheating, kudos to him.

[Ashlee]

Why not just make them hand their phones over when the exam commences? I know they could hide their phones but it's a start. When I was in high school people used to write notes/answers on their thighs.

Personally I'd find it hard to conceal what I'm doing on the smartphone during an exam.

[Waser Lave]

I think it's a good idea. In the UK it would be completely illegal too because you're not allowed to jam signals even in places like prisons.

[Pilot]

It's just high school, and this seems a little excessive.

[Applepi]

Its brilliant. I do understand the emergency situation concern...but most schools have an announcement system that can at least let people know what's going on in the case of an emergency. I can also assume that the principal would be able to disable the device if needed...

[soul__stealer]

Yung, on 18 January 2012 - 01:28 AM, said:

I'm going to say that it is not easier to cheat it is just a different form of cheating with less work involved... I've seen everything from the inside labels of water bottles to the answers being written down on shoe strings.

It is easier than acquiring an answer sheet since you can google questions and normally get an answer or pretty close to an answer.

I think that the teacher doing the Signal Jammer is awesome and that was really thinking outside the box on how to handle cheating, kudos to him.

Well it is easier to cheat using a Smartphone because no matter what the question is, you can google a solution. Writing cheat notes means you have to already know what's on the exam.

Ashlee, on 18 January 2012 - 01:49 AM, said:

Why not just make them hand their phones over when the exam commences? I know they could hide their phones but it's a start. When I was in high school people used to write notes/answers on their thighs.

Personally I'd find it hard to conceal what I'm doing on the smartphone during an exam.

Because having them hand in their phones only works if the student is honest. If they are cheating on an exam, they obviously aren't being honest, so are less than likely going to hand their phone in.

Waser Lave, on 18 January 2012 - 04:54 AM, said:

I think it's a good idea. In the UK it would be completely illegal too because you're not allowed to jam signals even in places like prisons.

I would say you fall under the same boat as us, with military etc being the only ones legally allowed to jam signals.

Pilot, on 18 January 2012 - 04:55 AM, said:

It's just high school, and this seems a little excessive.

Seeing as good grades in highschool can secure your position in a good University studying what you want (In Australia, you have a minimum High School Score required before you will be accepted into certain subjects directly after school). The exams he used the jammer on were for final exams.

Applepi, on 18 January 2012 - 06:53 AM, said:

Its brilliant. I do understand the emergency situation concern...but most schools have an announcement system that can at least let people know what's going on in the case of an emergency. I can also assume that the principal would be able to disable the device if needed...

But the signal jammer wouldn't ONLY affect the school, but surrounding houses and/or business around it.

[iargue]

Quote

Under Austrian law only police, the military and others in charge of security can jam signals.

To be fair. He is in charge of security at his school.

[Waser Lave]

soul__stealer, on 18 January 2012 - 07:19 AM, said:

But the signal jammer wouldn't ONLY affect the school, but surrounding houses and/or business around it.

Modern signal jammers can actually limit the jamming to within a perimeter rather than blocking everything within a certain radius.

[iargue]

soul__stealer, on 18 January 2012 - 07:19 AM, said:

Because having them hand in their phones only works if the student is honest. If they are cheating on an exam, they obviously aren't being honest, so are less than likely going to hand their phone in.

Honestly. Its really easy to tell if someone is typing on a cell phone during an exam. Teachers just need to not be lazy and actually pay attention.

[Kyle]

A HS near mine was rumored to have one of these also

[Boggart]

I think it's fine, just have an emergency landline somewhere or something. Or they could frisk all the students to make sure they don't bring phones in

[Sweeney]

Yung, on 18 January 2012 - 01:28 AM, said:

I'm going to say that it is not easier

Yung, on 18 January 2012 - 01:28 AM, said:

It is easier

iargue, on 18 January 2012 - 07:25 AM, said:

Honestly. Its really easy to tell if someone is typing on a cell phone during an exam. Teachers just need to not be lazy and actually pay attention.

In an exam hall potentially filled with almost 200 people?
You are such a muppet.

[willy101]

It bothers me that schools have access to this kind of tech

people are going to want to cheat no matter what. just because it's a rule doesn't inherently dissuade people from doing it. you just have to make the opportunity cost of cheating so high that students would be better off studying instead

[redlion]

willy101, on 18 January 2012 - 09:46 PM, said:

It bothers me that schools have access to this kind of tech

people are going to want to cheat no matter what. just because it's a rule doesn't inherently dissuade people from doing it. you just have to make the opportunity cost of cheating so high that students would be better off studying instead

I don't think the school had 'access' to this kind of tech any more than the consumer market does. You can purchase a Chinese radio jammer through the internet for less than a hundred dollars.

My friend did just that about 3 years ago on our college campus. He lived on the first floor of his dorm and got tired of people pacing outside his window on their phones. It took Verizon almost a week to pinpoint him because he would switch the thing off after he dropped the call of the offending student. He had the fuckers walking around with directional antennas hoping that his anti-signal would pop up for more than ten minutes so they could catch him.

When it was all over, the tech guys from Verizon actually offered him a job. Of course they couldn't hire him because the school charged him with a felony, but still.

He was also the first person in the state of Virginia to be charged with that particular law, which was implemented under the PATRIOT Act to ostensibly protect citizens from electronic terrorism.