Cheating monitoring turned off for remainder of 2024 exams

Students' plea for Massey University to stop using Online Supervised Exams is yet to be answered, but cheating monitoring has been turned off for the academic year in the meantime.  

During the exam period last month, at least 150 students faced issues and Massey was quickly forced to turn off the cheating monitoring system and allow students to retake exams.  

Alex Murray, a fed-up student from Palmerston North gained over 1000 signatures on a petition asking Massey to stop using OSEs. 

He was happy to have received so many signatures, “I did not expect it to go as far, but I still want it further.”    

It was his understanding that management was aware of the petition and its decision will be influenced by it.  

The exam issues and petition caught the attention of many, reaching RNZ, 1News, and Stuff. 

Provost Giselle Byrnes said OSEs will be converted to Time Constrained Assessments (TCAs) for the remainder of the academic year, meaning cheating monitoring will be off.  

“Making this decision now provides certainty for students and staff and allows staff to write exams that reflect the Open Book Open Web (OBOW) environment in which they will be completed by students.” 

Byrnes apologised for the failure of service and stress it caused to students.  

She said an independent inquiry was underway, with results to be released at the end of this month.  

Student rep Micah Geiringer said, “There is some work being done within Massey regarding this issue, but they haven't made it very clear to students. “ 

“If I was not a student rep involved in these internal processes, it would look like Massey is not doing anything and is continuing to ignore this issue.” 

He said trust of students need to be re-earned, “I really hope they know that students will not forget what happened just because it will be a new semester.” 

Geiringer gladly signed the petition last month, “I’m in the same boat, the majority of my exams were OSEs and I absolutely hated it.”  

“University is not meant to be easy, but it should be the academic material that’s difficult, not the software you use to test students.” 

He was glad the cheating monitoring was removed, “It was the right decision, but it could have been avoided all together.”