In the online third-year exam, which took place without a proctoring system, ‘irregularities’ where committed by thirteen students. Two students asked a technical question about the exam in a WhatsApp group, for example about a problem with their laptop. Because the use of phones or WhatsApp is explicitly forbidden during exams, these students have been reprimanded.
Two other students shared screenshots of the exam without further explanation. Because it was theoretically possible that this was done by accident – as one of the two students claimed – the punishment is limited to invalidating their exam.
Excluded from further exams
Nine other students actually discussed the exam content in an app group. “They asked concrete questions about the exam, such as ‘what does this mean?’ or ‘how do I get that answer?'”. These students are no longer allowed to take exams for the rest of the academic year, which will cause a study delay. However, they may still work on their thesis or complete an assignment. Because of the temporary ‘soft cut’ at the RSM, they can still start an RSM master in September. If they are planning to take a master’s degree at another institution, this incident may get them into trouble.
How do 13 students out of +/-400 make this a “large-scale” fraud? Just trying to understand how the involvement of less than 5% of the entire class makes this a “large-scale” cheating issue.
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