Blackboard technology is used across the country to test and teach students online in both online and offline courses, but is it secure?
This is how Blackboard works as far as testing is concerned. The teacher can create an online test with an online password for students to enter to access the test. The students take the test. If the test is graded right away, the student receives the grade and can review the test. If there are essay or short answer questions, the teacher may have to grade and return the test to the students. It is in that instance that the test is insecure to me. The student should be emailed a copy of the answers input on the exam in order to compare the answers and keep a record of her answers. The server could fail. The answers might somehow be changed and not be the answers that the student entered. All kinds of things could happen. Emailing the student a copy of the answers (note: not questions and answers) would satisfy the student that his answers weren’t being changed, lost, etc. similar to taking a test in pen. This may make answers insecure for students who cheat, but it would make the answers input a lot more secure for the rest of us – especially those taking online courses at online colleges a great distance from each other.
Blackboard is used at all levels, and the tools are great. Both of my colleges have used Blackboard for online classes and even campus courses. Besides not being emailed copies of exam answers that I have taken while they are being graded and are not visible to me, this is a great tool. Blackboard has even gone mobile.
