The government has warned of a deteriorated reading ability not only among school students, but also among college students. This in combination with aids such as AI increases the risk of cheating, according to the government.
It therefore gave the Swedish Higher Education Authority (UKÄ) the task of mapping how the educational institutions work to counter cheating through the use of AI and other digital tools. During the coronavirus pandemic, when college students had to study and take exams remotely, the number of cheating cases increased. Therefore, UKÄ's survey covers remote studies.
Fewer home exams
The UKÄ's report shows that the most common measure to reduce the risk of cheating with AI is to reduce the number of home exams and increase the number of on-site exams with proctors present.
Many educational institutions also use special digital assessment platforms. In this way, the teacher can limit which software the students can use. Such a digital exam can also track plagiarized or AI-generated text and adjust the response time for a specific question.
A third way is to replace home exams with oral exams.
Support to be offered
But AI does not have to be completely prohibited during exams. At the educational institutions where AI is allowed, the requirement is that students clearly indicate when and how the tool has been used.
Other measures are to offer students the support they need to be able to solve tasks independently, without cheating, for example, courses in academic writing.
The need for AI training for teachers is also highlighted. This applies not only to how they can track AI cheating, but also to how AI can become part of the teaching. A few educational institutions offer generative AI tools to teachers – for example, as help to create exam questions.
