prevent students from copying text from quiz question

[k_wullstein]

With AI tool use so common now with students using the quiz tool for objective testing is challenging.  It appears they can copy the text and then put it in an AI tool to get the answer.  They can do this so quickly that reducing the quiz time limit isn't effective.  I use Lock Down Browser, but that may not be enough. 

1) is there a way to prevent students from copying text from a quiz question?  

2) is there a way to hide text in a quiz question that students can't see if they copy the text? For example put the text is the color white.  When I do this and view as a student, the white text shows up when I copy the text. 

[chriscas · Accepted solution]

Hi @k_wullstein,

I don't think it's feasible to prevent students from copying text out of the browser from a technical perspective, as the world wide web just wasn't designed with that kind of thing in mind.  I'm sure there are some solutions that could be deployed, but they might end up doing more harm than good.  Continuing that line of thought, AI is being built in to many browsers, which means the AI could see the underlying webpage code and get the text directly from there anyways, so locking students out of copy/paste wouldn't really address the root problem.

Similarly, while I understand the idea of "hiding" some text, it'll probably end up with more technical challenges than it seems on the surface.  You'd need to make sure that whatever you do was also hidden from screen-readers, as you wouldn't want to negatively impact students with a disability who need assistive software like that.  You'd also have to take dark-mode into account...  While it's only available officially in the Canvas app right now, there are browser extensions that can change background color too.  If you just make white text, people using dark mode would likely see that text as normal and could again be confused.

I wish I had a better answer for you, but I wanted to get these comments out there for you and others who might come along and see this thread.

-Chris

[chriscas · Accepted solution]

Hi @k_wullstein,

I don't think it's feasible to prevent students from copying text out of the browser from a technical perspective, as the world wide web just wasn't designed with that kind of thing in mind.  I'm sure there are some solutions that could be deployed, but they might end up doing more harm than good.  Continuing that line of thought, AI is being built in to many browsers, which means the AI could see the underlying webpage code and get the text directly from there anyways, so locking students out of copy/paste wouldn't really address the root problem.

Similarly, while I understand the idea of "hiding" some text, it'll probably end up with more technical challenges than it seems on the surface.  You'd need to make sure that whatever you do was also hidden from screen-readers, as you wouldn't want to negatively impact students with a disability who need assistive software like that.  You'd also have to take dark-mode into account...  While it's only available officially in the Canvas app right now, there are browser extensions that can change background color too.  If you just make white text, people using dark mode would likely see that text as normal and could again be confused.

I wish I had a better answer for you, but I wanted to get these comments out there for you and others who might come along and see this thread.

-Chris

[chrismhs]

In the teacher view of new quizzes, you can't copy the text until you get in to a test bank.  Not sure why that is when the students can copy directly in the test.  It still would be a helpful feature.

[chrismhs]

Interesting.  I still think Canvas quizzes should disable copy text.  It does it in teacher view before you edit questions in the bank.  But I do believe that in class proctoring is a must for integrity.

[AdamChin]

Hey @k_wullstein !

I've been thinking about this issue too, and I'm surprised Canvas doesn't have an option for this; it wouldn't actually be too difficult for them to program---many sites have this kind of feature.  But alas!  Not Canvas!

One way around students copy-pasting questions is to upload the questions as images rather than as plain text.  So you could type out the question, take a screenshot of it, and paste it into the question textbox in the quiz maker.  This way students can't simply copy-paste.  Of course, they can still type out the question, but it's an added cost and they might learn that it's better to actually try answering than simply looking it up.

Of course, as with any time you have content images, you'll want to make sure there's alt text---which can just be the question itself!  So that seems to cover the kinds of accessibility concerns @chriscas had.  That said, there are probably other issues with this solution I haven't thought of or encountered.

Hope this is useful!

~Adam

[k_wullstein]

@AdamChin thanks for sharing that approach - but as you indicate the alt text is necessary and does that cause more difficulty to students than necessary.  Appreciate the creative idea!

[everson_50]

Hi @k_wullstein , @AdamChin , and @chriscas 

I realize this is an older question, and it's possible there are new discussions that I have not seen yet that elaborate on this issue.  I was just talking to a teaching assistant about uploading questions as images in an effort to prevent students from easily using AI to get their answers. I love this idea, but I worry a lot about our students who rely on using screen readers.  In terms of making the alt text the question itself, is that possible?  I've been flagged in Canvas for being too wordy with my alt text.  I assumed there was a character limit where alt text is concerned, but maybe that is not the case with New Quizzes?  I am still using Classic Quizzes.

Thank you!

Michelle

[chriscas · Accepted solution]

Hi @everson_50,

I have a couple thoughts for you around this.

First, as to the alt-text character limit, there are many systems that seem to suggest that alt-text should be 120 characters or less.  I haven't been able to find an exact number in any standards, so I think that 120 character thing is more of an interpretation than anything.  In reality, I think the alt-text should be as concise as possible while still fully describing/conveying the importance of the image to someone who may not be able to clearly see it.  For some images that's easy to do in 120 characters, for others it could take 1000 characters (or maybe even more), especially in an academic setting.  The accessibility checkers can't really figure out the context or complexity of an image, so they just flag anything over a certain character threshold and leave it to you to make the final decision as to whether a change it needed or not.

With that note out of the way...  I agree that genAI really has opened a can of worms for the other AI acronym (Academic Integrity).  Unfortunately, I don't think there are any real simple fixes for the situation right now.  Putting your question text as an image is likely to cause more issues for students taking the quiz than anything, and honestly won't stop students from using modern genAI tools to get answers, as they're usually able to easily read text from a screenshot/image.  In my personal opinion, there's really not a way to guarantee academic integrity on an online environment.  There are proctoring tools (or using video conferencing software to approximate those tools) and lockdown browser tools, but all of those have their own caveats and issues, and can be circumvented pretty easily by tech-savvy students.  Then there is the idea of assessment redesign, which is probably more likely to be effective, but requires a lot of work and thought, and still might not be "AI proof".

I think on some level we're in the middle of a teaching and learning revolution right now.  GenAI is putting information at students' fingertips, but that info isn't always accurate and students don't always know what to do with the info.  We'd like to continue to use the same teaching methods that have worked well enough for years, but genAI is making that a harder...  I always try to keep in mind that even before genAI (and the internet), academic integrity has always been an issue for educators.  Some students have probably been cheating since the advent of education, but certainly not all of them.  GenAI may be enticing more students to do their homework or exams in ways we'd rather they did not do, but I don't know that there's a way to turn back the clock at this point.  I also think there's more of a "feeling" that online courses have more academic integrity issues, but there is not a ton of hard date to back that up (and I do realize it's a difficult thing to get hard accurate data on)

One popular move right now is to deliver content online, but have exams and assessments be in-person.  This could potentially help reduce academic integrity issues, but as I said earlier I think most educators will admit to having issues in-person as well.  In-person requirements also remove some of the flexibility that students today (especially in higher-ed) want and need, so while I don't know that it's a universal solution.

I hope some of the ramblings of this Canvas admin help a bit.

-Chris

[everson_50]

Yes, @chriscas, this helps tremendously.  Thank you for taking the time to share your "ramblings."  I feel much the same way you do.  There are so many pros and cons to every possible thing we might do in our classrooms, and we have a lot to re-think now, which is never a bad thing.  Personally, I have misgivings about certain ways of testing, and I am trying to look for things I might do to give students freedom and flexibility while making it harder to use AI to get all of the answers.  I'm not convinced that locking everything down and policing students at every turn is the answer.  It's at least not the direction I want to go with my course.  I teach a large-enrollment course, and some of our students are enrolled in a fully asynchronous section of the course.  I value the flexibility they have and do not want to take that away.  

[chrismhs]

It is still insane to me how Canvas prevents a teacher from copying text in the main test interface, but doesn't do that when a student is taking a test.  Every little bit helps to prevent cheating even though a perfect system may not exist.

[chriscas]

Hi @chrismhs,

Just as a quick FYI, I can copy text form the main screen of an item back (without editing a question).  You just have to start selecting outside of the question box, then drag up/down.  You're correct that you can't do it if you try to select directly in the box, but I think that's more of a html/browser thing than any kind of intentional design choice, though maybe I'm totally incorrect about that.

-Chris

[chrismhs]

In new quizzes, when you try to select the question in the test you get a dialog with the edit in the bank button.  Then it looks like you can select each part of the question/answer choices to copy but not all at once to copy.  So I see what you are saying.  Still would be nice to decrease the chances!  🙂