Following the transition to online classes, WSU students and instructors are experiencing unproctored exams online and alternative assignments to testing like projects or small quizzes. 

Joseph McReynolds, freshman chemical engineering major, said he has no problem with this transition but feels like it could be coordinated better with students.

“Most of my professors are still struggling to use the online tools but hopefully they are given better training to accustom to these changes,” McReynolds said. 

He said if this continues then unproctored testing will not work since there are a lot of problems with student integrity.

McReynolds said he feels his exams have gotten harder in order to combat students cheating during them. 

“Exams getting harder puts students who are working honestly at a disadvantage,” McReynolds said.

Shazad Ahmed, freshman marketing major, said his professors have chosen to shift to doing class projects instead of further testing.

Ahmed said his Math 103 class is transitioning into a final project instead of a final exam.

For his math project he had to work on specific math problems assigned by the professor and had to upload it on Crowdmark, which is an online grading platform, to be graded, he said.

“I feel like doing projects instead of exams is a better way of evaluation during these unpredictable times,” Ahmed said.

Coral Thompson, sophomore communication major, said exams should be proctored with no cost to the students if classes continue online. 

She said her economics midterm exam was going to be proctored with no cost to the students in the class but was unproctored in the end due to it being more cost effective to the economics department. 

“If this situation continues then proctored exams should be conducted with better coordination from the university leadership and academic departments,” Thompson said.

Thomas Tripp, Carson College of Business senior associate dean for academic affairs, said the faculty are getting constant training and crash courses to get familiar with the online testing tools provided.

Tripp said most of the professors are choosing not to have tests and are discussing alternate assignments such as online quizzes or final projects. 

“Proctorio is an online proctored testing tool that has been discussed by the faculty to put it into effect eventually if this situation persists,” Tripp said.

Proctorio costs have been absorbed by the university this semester. However, Tripp said he cannot predict if the students will be charged eventually to take proctored tests.