[Athen] Dragon use during exams

[Al Puzzuoli]

 In my mind, the question would be, "What is the balance between
accommodating in any way possible, as opposed to protecting the
integrity of the test taking environment?"  There's no right answer, but
it's hard enough to lock things down tightly on a centrally managed PC.
If a student were using his/her own computer, doing so would be
virtually impossible.  In such a situation, if that student decided that
she  wanted to cheat, she would find a way, so I wouldn't worry too much
about Dragon in particular.  


Al Puzzuoli                              
 
Michigan State University
 
Information Technologist                                       
http://www.rcpd.msu.edu
 
Resource Center for Persons with Disabilities
 
120 Bessey Hall East Lansing, MI  48824-1033
 
517-884-1915 

-----Original Message-----
From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On
Behalf Of Jennison Mark Asuncion
Sent: Saturday, July 19, 2008 4:40 PM
To: Equal Access to Software & Information; athen at athenpro.org
Subject: [Athen] Dragon use during exams

Hello,

Passing a question along from a colleague in the UK.

Is the use of Dragon, particularly the most recent versions, acceptable
in an exam situation particularly because it includes the ability to
create macros? Some have argued that the availability of the macro
function introduces the possibility that this
   could allow pre-prepared material ( for example whole paragraphs) to
be
   inserted into answers when a student is using his/her own computer to
sit for an exam. If the most recent versions are being used during
exams, has concern been raised over the potential for cheating using
macros, and if so, how have you mitigated this concern and the potential
for cheating?

Thanks,
Jennison

Jennison Asuncion
Co-Director, Adaptech Research Network http://www.adaptech.org LinkedIn
at http://www.linkedin.com/in/Jennison

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