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RNZ News
06-05-2025
- RNZ News
Return to pen and paper for some university exams tough for digitally savvy students
Students at Victoria's Pipitea campus told RNZ it would not be an easy transition to go back to paper. File picture. Photo: Students say going back to pen and paper after years of taking tests on a screen will be a challenging shift. Two third-year classes at Victoria University of Wellington, have been told they will be handwriting their upcoming exams, after concerns it will not be possible to prevent cheating with AI if students are allowed to use laptops. The exam period begins on 6 June. Students taking LAWS 312 - Equity, Trusts and Succession and LAWS 334 - Ethics and the Law, which the university explained were both externally regulated assessments, received a message from the dean, Geoff McLay, on Monday. He said despite laptops being allowed for previous in-person exams, he was worried advancements in AI had made it hard to be sure students' work was their own, and a technical solution for policing it was not ready yet. Students at Victoria's Pipitea campus told RNZ it would not be an easy transition to go back to paper. One second-year law student said: "We had high school and then it was Covid, instantly into the computers and then everything kind of went digital. I would be concerned and unfamiliar if I were to just go straight back to paper tests." Another said it created a time constraint: "It's not as quick when you're handwriting it, so it's definitely easier online." Victoria University provost Bryony James said they were working on a solution. "The most important concern [...] is to absolutely ensure the integrity of the assessment, because that ensures the integrity of the students' final qualification." And when they did commit to a solution, they wanted it to last. Across the university, 70 percent of exams across the university were still paper-based, but it was not just law courses that were also affected by the lack of an AI screening system. "There are other accredited degrees across the university that also have regulatory requirements, and they're addressing it the same way that law is this time around - by using handwritten exams - because that is still, I'm afraid to say, the gold standard of ensuring integrity," James said. One way to help students faced with handwritten tests was to make them multi-choice, or require answers in bullet-point form, she said, and the university would be working with students with disabilities or accessibility needs. Law students spoken to by RNZ said most of their exams were done digitally - but that varied by university. A spokesperson from the University of Auckland told RNZ all law exams this year were done digitally. "Across all disciplines in 2024, there were 81,267 digital exam sessions versus 52,552 paper-based exam sessions," it said - that's 60.7 percent digital. "For on-campus digital exams, we employ a secure lockdown browser within our digital exam platform that restricts access to unauthorised websites, applications and functions to prevent use of unauthorised materials, as well as in-person invigilation." But at Waikato University, a spokesperson said all law exams this trimester would be handwritten, with exceptions for students with accessibility needs. Jacob Leith, a fourth-year law student at the University of Canterbury, said most of his exams were handwritten too - and he preferred it that way. "When it's online, the opportunity to be unethical is there, which may be tempting to some," he said. Auckland University AI professor Michael Whitbrock said students who studied with the help of AI were likely to see better grades - but that could make it complicated to prevent them using it during exams. "These systems can be so helpful in education," he said. "Not only should we expect that students are using them as they study, and as they understand their courses, but we should be pleased that they're doing so." But he said AI was becoming increasingly complex, and preventing its use in exams was something schools at all levels would have to face. Massey University senior lecturer Collin Bjork said it was not as simple as turning off the wifi. "You'd like to think that if you cut off the internet that it would cut off the access to AI, but that's only the browser based AI platforms," he said. "For example, if you download certain AI platforms to your computer, and run them locally on your own machine." Those models could then be fed large amounts of text - something law students would be familiar with - and provide answers based on that. Bjork said that many students benefit from the use of computers. "When you move back to a pencil and paper exam, one thing that you're risking is disadvantaging students with disabilities," he said. He said it also raised questions about how much funding, and how much of educators' energy, should be going towards policing AI-use, rather than educating students. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
RNZ News
05-05-2025
- RNZ News
Victoria law students not allowed laptops in exams to prevent AI cheating
Wellington law students will have to undertake next month's ethics and equity exams without their laptops. Photo: 123RF A law student at Victoria University of Wellington (VUW) said students had been "left in the lurch" after an announcement on Monday that said next month's exams for two law subjects would have to be handwritten. The student, who did not wish to be named, also said a timetable had still not been provided. In an announcement from the Dean, Professor Geoff McLay, he said he had become "increasingly worried that the embedding of artificial intelligence (AI) in many students' laptops makes ensuring that students' work is their own very difficult". He had hoped the university would have a technical solution, but said it was very unlikely, although he hoped one would be available at the end of the year. "This means that we will not be able to allow students to use laptops for exams next month," McLay wrote. "I want to make this announcement as soon as possible so students have time to prepare for handwritten examinations." McLay added that there would be an exception for students with a disability that required them to use a keyboard. The situation affected the LAWS 312 Equity and LAWS 334 Ethics exams. The student said the announcement was stressful during an already stressful time. In a Facebook post, a representative of the Victoria University of Wellington Law Students' Society (VUWLSS) said the Council of Legal Education had to be certain that everyone who passed the exams in Equity and Ethics deserved a pass (and did not cheat). "Previously in person invigilation has been sufficient to manage these concerns. However, due to the increasing ability and sophistication of AI the faculty were concerned about the reliability of the exams, leading to their decision to make the Equity and Ethics exams handwritten." The representative said VUWLSS had expressed that students' preference was for typed exams - "reflecting how our professional lives will look". "However, once it became clear that the faculty felt they needed to proceed with handwritten exams we emphasised that students should be informed as early as possible, accessibility options should be made clear, and exam content and timing should reflect the fact that many students have not done handwritten exams since high school and are not used to writing for extended periods of time." The representative added it was separate from the delay to the exam timetable, which was due to short-staffing. In a statement, VUW Provost Professor Bryony James said students' handwriting their exams meant the university could be confident that the results truly reflected the students' own knowledge and effort - free of any suggestion of the influence of AI. James said she would ensure that no student was disadvantaged, and was committed to working with students - including those with disabilities - who might need further support to participate in exams and final assessments as a result. "As part of this undertaking the Faculty of Law will review this Trimester's exam results to ensure this cohort's performance is in line with previous years and confirm that students are not significantly impacted by this decision." President of VUW's Students' Association Liban Ali told Morning Report he was aware that this could happen as early as last year. "It has been on the card as of last year, so ... I feel like there was something that was going to happen." Ali said the announcement had come at the wrong time, and that the Students' Association were very concerned for students. He said the Students' Association had engaged the Law Society and the faculty to determine the best way to support students. He added that he would make sure that any changes were communicated early in the future. Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
