Pattern of "Stopped viewing quiz page"

[chichifs]

Hello,
I am seeking confirmation from IT/LMS Admin specialists regarding the interpretation of a specific pattern in a student’s Quiz Log, where NO third-party proctoring software was used.

The quiz attempt was taken on a Windows OS machine that experiences intermittent screen flickering/display controller issues. The log shows the following pattern of "Stopped viewing the Canvas quiz-taking page" (Focus Lost) events:

1. Multiple very short events: There were 4 to 5 logged exits with a duration of less than 1 second.
2. Intermittent longer events: There were 2 to 3 logged exits with a duration of approximately 10 to 30 seconds each.

Questions for the admins:

1. Is it technically plausible that the combination of <1 second and 10-20 second exits is the digital footprint of an intermittent display driver or GPU failure in Windows, rather than intentional fraud?
2. Based on your experience with Windows, is an interruption of 10-20 seconds—which could be the time the OS takes to reset the display after a glitch—considered a common "false positive" in Canvas logs?
3. Do you, as specialists, agree that the pattern of sub-second micro-exits invalidates the inference of fraud in the longer exits, as the overall pattern confirms equipment instability?
I would appreciate any insights or links to documentation that confirm that the Quiz Log must be interpreted with caution, especially when a pattern of technical instability is present on a Windows machine.

Thank you very much for your time.

[CindiKerns · Accepted solution]

Hello,

Academic integrity is a challenging issue that is only becoming more so. At our institution we do not enable the Quiz Log by default. Instructors have to enable it at the course level. I encourage instructors not to rely on it for academic integrity issues. One reason is because of technical issues like the one you mention. We have found that calendar reminders and other pop-ups provide false indications of leaving the quiz. I use this Canvas Guide Article as a reference in conversations with faculty. I highlight this paragraph specifically:

If you are looking to investigate potential academic integrity or cheating concerns, we recommend that you first work with the academic affairs office, academic technology office, or other office charged with handling academic misconduct matters within your institution. They can share processes, guidelines, and approved institutional approaches for investigating academic integrity issues that may or may not occur in an online environment.

One way instructors are trying to mitigate opportunities to cheat is to use Lockdown Browser. While that doesn't solve the problem for online or remote students, it may help with in class assessments.