The Smowl program uses artificial intelligence and facial recognition to verify the student’s identity and ensure that they do not copy it.

Pilar Rubio Lafita, a 28-year-old IE Business School student, took the exam virtually. His teacher scheduled pre-exams for the end of the school year. But the alarm situation caused by the coronavirus has sent his plans to hell and he has had to look for alternatives. Finally, he conducted the test virtually using the Smowl program, which uses facial recognition and artificial intelligence to verify the student’s identity and monitor their behavior during an exam.

Smowltech is typically integrated into the platform used by each entity. Moodle and Blackboard Learn are the most popular. For the student, the first step is to register. Three photos must be taken with the computer camera. By doing this, the system wants to make sure that you appear in the middle so that your face is visible, so that the lighting does not cover your face. These images will be used to verify identity during the examination.

After the test begins, the student must be allowed access to the system camera and audio at all times. On the side of the screen, a box appears showing the image taken by the camera and recording it. "At first I was worried because they were recording or measuring my movements. When you do the exam, however, you start working on things that are really important, which is leading the exam with your best ability. I think the initial fear was just resistance to change," Rubio explained.

Actually, the program does not record the student. The tool, Smowl assures, captures different photos of him and the activity he does. For the company, the videos are “interesting,” but very cumbersome: recording everything would hinder the scalability of the solution. "We work once a week with top 1,000 or 2,000 students. Much in specific situations," says Manuel Frail, CTO of Smowltech.

Other uses

Universities like CEU or schools like IE Business School also use this tool. The company does not provide specific data about its customers for reasons of confidentiality, which is used in both undergraduate and postgraduate studies and MOOCs (mass courses), especially in Europe and Latin America. Frail explained that the idea is to monitor what happens outside the computer with the camera, in addition to controlling any programs, browsers, or documents that the student may open. "If you enter Wikipedia or copy a text, we will detect it. The browsing history is also saved," he states.

The idea is to track every step students take instead of blocking access to any website so that each teacher can design exams to their liking: "There are those that allow you to browse the Internet, others that allow you to use Excel or access the statistics program to do calculations." The context for each study is defined by each entity. Usually the student can only have a computer and should be at a clean table.

According to Rubio, one of the drawbacks of doing a virtual study is that "the environment has a big impact; that's why you have to find the right space." "Besides, you can't do a flexible study. For example, time is everything and you can't stretch it," he added, noting that among the strengths, the remaining time is expressed at all times.

The company stressed that “the student is aware at all times that it is controlled” and that the tool does not have access to files stored on the computer. "We only control it during the exam. When it's over, it closes and stops tracking," Frail says. All stored information is stored with the codes assigned to each student, instead of first and last name: "I do not have data on Adrián; I have data on the 67th student from a particular university."

How the teacher sees it

Smowl’s main goal, in the words of Smowltech CEO Ricardo Vea, is to “create evidence for the teacher”. Simplify his work so he doesn’t get “crazy”. In addition, he is also a teacher and sometimes has about 170 students per subject, he explained. "Is it 100% possible to control that a student doesn't copy in a physical exam?" It’s similar here, ”he says.
To avoid this, it is important how the study is structured: "It has closed logic, multiple choice questions and limited time. Or allowing the use of any other material is another common option; the question is what the material is like."

Design

Enrique Dans, Professor of Innovation and Senior Advisor for Innovation and Digital Transformation at IE Business School, designed the study by Lafita. It was a short case made up of very conceptual cases, with no direct answer, but it had different possibilities. Dans allowed students to see what they wanted online or offline. The only thing that was not allowed was the help of third parties. But they asked questions. "I was allowed to ask questions via email, telegram, SMS and phone. It was a difficult moment for me to go to so many channels at once," he admits.