With students across the globe increasingly turning to AI tools like ChatGPT when taking online exams, many establishments are reverting to analog methods of assessment and switching to in-person, handwritten exam papers.  But this does not remove the threat of cheating – particularly as high-tech wearables, designed and marketed for exam cheating, are becoming increasingly common. 

It’s understandable that many institutions are reintroducing in-person, handwritten exams as a means to try and combat AI usage.  As Ben Cohen reports in The Wall Street Journal, traditional American exam booklets – known as blue books – are making a notable comeback. Sales of blue books have risen by nearly 50% at the University of Florida this academic year, while at the University of California’s Berkeley campus, sales have soared by 80% over the past two academic years. Cohen highlights the case of Kevin Elliot, a lecturer at Yale university, who has switched to oral and blue book exams after seeing “smoking gun evidence of AI” in students take home papers.  Meanwhile, Townsend Harris High School in Queens, New York, has begun requiring students to complete their summer reading essays by hand, in class, in an effort to reduce reliance on AI tools. 

While these moves make important steps to limit the use of AI in assessments, unfortunately they overlook the many other developing ways students can still cheat and access AI, even in the classroom.  Among these, wearable tech is arguably the most prominent emerging threat. 

The Threat of Wearable Tech

Without a doubt, wearable tech is changing the threat landscape of exams.  From more obvious technology like smartwatches – which are banned in many exams – to high tech button-hole cameras, there’s a wide range of devices out there being marketed towards students as a way to gain an unfair academic advantage. 

Smartwatches and smart glasses can deliver notes, messages, or even real time answers from a third party to the devices screen – in the case of smart glasses, this is usually via a discreet panel at the top of one or both frames.  The most popular versions of these devices are designed to be recognisable – such as Meta’s Ray Bans, which have a flashing light in the lenses – but more innocuous versions are becoming widely available, and these can be extremely difficult to detect. 

This summer, a student in Japan was caught cheating using smart glasses.   During an English proficiency test, Wang Likun was found with a miniature microphone hidden inside his face mask, and smart glasses connected to his mobile phone.  Police suspected he was using the devices to communicate with other candidates during the exam. 

As is the case in this story, smart glasses can be combined with other devices, like hidden earpieces, to get access to answers or pass them to other candidates in an exam.  A student can quietly recite a question into a hidden microphone and receive a response back via a watch, hidden earpiece, or smart glasses lens. 

It is clear, then, that reverting to in-person exams does not prevent students from using technology to cheat.   With so much attention directed at the risks of AI in online and take-home assessments, many test centres and invigilators remain unprepared for the growing threat of wearable devices – and are therefore less likely to recognise and intercept them. 

Devices of Deception: New Whitepaper Findings

In the Assessment Security Research Group’s latest whitepaper, researcher Niamh Pierce identifies some of the wearable technologies being marketed to students as cheating tools on popular social media sites like TikTok.  With the vast majority of the devices tested in this paper available for Amazon Prime next day delivery, Niamh’s research gives a shocking insight into the risks facing the integrity of in-person exams.  

In ‘Devices of Deception: The Cheating Tools Undermining Assessment Integrity’, Niamh looks at four categories of wearable devices, as well as smart calculators and pens.  Of these, modern earpieces stood out to me as particularly alarming.  Niamh notes that basic models can be bought for as little as £20 on Amazon, while more advanced versions – explicitly marketed as cheating tools – range from £319 to £1,019.  These higher-end products are so small that they must be inserted and fixed inside the ear canal.  Unsurprisingly, this comes with health and safety concerns – doctors in Russia noted earlier this year that they had seen a significant increase in students needing medical attention for such devices being stuck inside their ear canal. 

The growing use of earpieces, despite the health risks they carry, shows just how far some students are willing to go to avoid taking an exam unaided.  This case study, and others present in ASRG’s whitepaper, also demonstrates how small and discreet these wearables are becoming.  

Protecting the Future of Exam Integrity

Given the worrying number of videos about these products on social media – and their easy availability on sites such as Amazon – it is clear that in-centre assessment security needs to change.  To begin with, there must be an enforced ban on wearables in exams, alongside increased training for test centre staff and invigilators so they understand what devices are available, what they are capable of, and how to identify them. 

Another crucial step in tackling these devices is being able to recognise the body language of those who use them.  Candidates mumbling or talking to themselves, or repeatedly glancing up into their glasses, may be signs of a hidden earpiece, voice-activated device, or smart glasses.  By educating invigilators and test centre staff on the behaviours associated with these technologies (as well as standard analogue cheating methods), exam organisers and awarding bodies can greatly improve their chances of spotting and dealing with them appropriately.  This is also why we hold regular training calls with our own invigilators and test centre staff, to ensure everyone is up to date with the latest cheating methods. 

Technical countermeasures will also be essential in the fight against high-tech devices.  Scanners capable of detecting Wi-Fi, mobile data, or Bluetooth signals can be used to identify wearables connected to external devices or people outside the exam hall.  Standard metal detectors should also be employed to locate hidden devices, while invigilators can manually check accessories or items such as calculators and pens for signs they fall outside regulation. 

These solutions undoubtedly require additional effort from awarding bodies, exam organisers, and staff – but only by introducing such measures can we hope to preserve academic integrity.  Importantly, even the presence of these extra safeguards can act as a powerful deterrent, reducing the likelihood of candidates attempting to use them in the first place.