it was a small handful of weeks and Marine* in blushes again : "This is not very glorious. "Every morning, and during five days in the family home, this student of paris in a third-year Biology has taken place, at 9 o'clock, in front of the desk of his room, to pass his exams at a distance. Face it : the whole of its course, both computers – hers, to access the proofs online, and one of his mother, opened on Google – and especially the smartphone, fully charged and connected to two conversations Messenger, one connecting it to a small group of three friends, the other to all his comrades of promo.

As the young woman, the students are many, this year, to have benefited of examinations at a distance in the second half to ignore the regulations. One can legitimately estimate that their number exceeds that of the previous year. But it remains impossible to quantify. And for good reason, if Twitter contains testimonies in which the students are rejoicing publicly of defrauding (" With my team [team] in the past of cheating for the exams " ; "I have strong cheated in my exam" ; " I have developed skills cheat incredible "...), institutions typically fail to mention these differences of conduct, in the face of which they often find themselves disadvantaged and they do sometimes not – when they do not refuse to do so.

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"there has always been around the cheat a battle of perception," says the historian of education Claude Lelièvre, between school leaders, who gain to minimize the phenomenon to preserve their reputation and do not endorse in average, only one student out of a thousand, and the students, who already feel that, in normal times, that there is cheating in a good third of the case " (report of the general inspection of national Education, 2007). And this plethora of evidence, as risky it might be- the fraud in the examinations constituting a crime and, finally echo that to a shared vision of the cheat, "the small feat of youth, soon condemned by public opinion and which one likes to boast," smiles the former university professor.

"Even general de Gaulle has pandered to in his Memoirs," recalls the historian. Because the cheat is not born with the reviews online post-containment. "There are scammers since there are exams ! he recalls. Two centuries ago, already existed for the tray, an organization and even an industry of cheating, with “the smugglers” (passing the tests in place of the candidate) or “versionnaires” (who traded in their copy of the version before it is raised). "

Cheat 2.0

Other times, other tools. In 2020, the cheating in distance takes the form of Google searches, dives unrestrained in the chapters of course, appeal to the parents or roommates to be effective and competent (the equivalent, at little cost, " smugglers ") and multiconnexions courier online (Messenger, WhatsApp...). "There is a small mutual aid between friends, and there are the sophisticated structuring ", distinguishes, bitter, and between the two councils of discipline, Pascal Brouaye, director of the engineering school Esilv (École supérieure d'ingénieurs Léonard de Vinci), where two professors have detected a fraud involving approximately six hundred students of first and second year, via the social network Discord, where thirty of them have posted their copy before the end of the test.

A "fraud" collaborative ", such as would define Lucas*, second-year student in pharmacy at Paris, at the initiative of the creation of a group Messenger, bringing together a dozen of " persons of confidence ". A " mutual assistance ", as a lesser evil, which by training effect attracts students unfamiliar with the cheat. "Everyone was doing it, so if I didn't, I was putting sticks in the wheels, justifies Navy, the biology student, But I'm kind stressed out and this was not a part of the fun ! "And because, if the students are acting under the radar screen, their copies then pass through a sieve software of plagiarism – in which each institution is now equipped with. "It is difficult not to compare their answers with someone when the opportunity is given to us, but I sometimes freaked out because with all these results, I doubted my own, and I embrouillait ; mostly I was afraid that my copy is like that of a buddy," says the young woman, sensitized, like its peers, to the question.

Monitoring online

But how to maintain in these conditions the principle of equity and the guarantee of a degree that has a value ? "For those who have not had recourse to these processes, and this is not fair, admit with embarrassment Guillaume Gellé, president of the education commission of the conference of university Presidents, but the other will encounter difficulty in the following years, this success lasts only for a time ", wants to believe in the one who is also the president of the university of Reims-Champagne-Ardenne region. Because the vast majority of institutions of higher the know : a large part of the cheating took place on the private courier companies, which they have, by definition, not have access. And the teachers – they have been many – who have imposed on their students to open the video conferencing application Zoom during the entire examination to monitor them and ensure that they do not exchanged with anyone or were not consulted their phone have not been able to more.

further, in the image of the prestigious HEC school of management, have resorted to a method more sophisticated, more expensive also : remote monitoring. Officially authorized by the ministry of higher Education, these software seem to be straight from the future. They give access to the computer screen of the student and activate his / her webcam, and – for the versions the more successful – using the" eye-tracking technology to follow the gaze of the candidate). Considered "do not appear consistent with the principle of proportionality" by the Cnil (Commission nationale de l'informatique et des libertés) and causing a furor among many of the students, characterizing the method of" orwellienne ", several universities, the image of Rennes-I and Paris-II Panthéon-Assas waived.

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reviews otherwise

there are, finally, those institutions that have chosen a different strategy and that, rather than put up walls against cheating, have redesigned the content of their tests. No copies classic sent by photo or deposited on the platform of the school, not more of the QUIZ, even to the limited time and the questions in the random order. But subjects of analysis, more critical, and involving, in fact, a personal work. As designed by the business school Skema : "We have always had tests, open-book and case studies that are expected to be a critical analysis that is thoughtful and personal. This year, we have expanded to more material, " explains Sophie Gay Anger, program director, High School of the institution. It is not the other side of the mirror, but I think it has limited the damage. "

focus on understanding rather than on the " by-heart ", the optional anti-cheat is the most effective ? "It is, in any case, the more intelligent !" enthuses the specialist of education Claude Lelièvre. "This situation will have been interesting if it does not come down to a race to the fraud, but pushes the institutions to imagine events more singular, which will break with the mere restitution ", expresses he. This former Sorbonne professor who allowed his students to see their courses for the exams also wants to believe that this practice could become more widespread : "These real-life conditions – since we have in reality access to lots of data – are more difficult, he must show intelligence in its choice, the off-topic is quickly arrived, there has been less received when I introduced these terms and conditions ", he explains. "The implementation of these new examinations would be more complicated, for all the world, but it would be a guarantee of progress educational ! "

*The names of students have been changed.