Name: Math students at Wilfrid Laurier furious after department orders them to buy external webcams for exams
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Math students at Wilfrid Laurier furious after department orders them to buy external webcams for exams

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close This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To orderpresentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distributionto colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire aboutpermissions/licensing, please go to: Students at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo are furious after they’ve been asked to purchase an external webcam so instructors can look over their shoulder remotely during exams, despite the fact that webcams are in short supply on online stores.Mathematics department chair Roman Makarov wrote in a email to all math students taking summer courses that built-in webcams found on most laptops are not accepted and that “there are no alternatives to writing exams in this manner.” This is so that instructors can have a clear view of the students’ desk space in order to prevent cheating.The cost to buy an external webcam can run upwards of $100 and more if a student needs to buy a tripod in order to mount the webcam properly. In addition, finding a webcam in stock is a challenge with the increase in people working and learning from home. At most online retailors such as Amazon, Best Buy, Staples and Canada Computers, nearly all available name-brand webcams are out of stock. Third-party resellers have taken to sites such as eBay to sell name-brand webcams with significant markups.Vincent Nguyen, a third-year computer science student enrolled in a statistics course over the summer, is one of many students who feel that the external webcam policy is out of line. He told the Star that quality webcams have been “impossible to find” and the small size of his working area makes it difficult for him to properly mount it.“A lot kids can’t afford webcams and tripods …. It was really unreasonable and I was surprised that (the math department) went ahead and did that,” said Ngyuen.In a statement to the Star, Wilfrid Laurier spokesperson Lori Chalmers Morrison said that the university plans on offering alternative options for students who face difficulty obtaining external webcams. “The university strives to balance the need for measures to ensure academic integrity during online courses and exams with the technology and financial realities of our students.”However, she further added that the math department believes that the external webcam together with the Respondus Lockdown Browser and Monitor is the “optimal solution for online administration of math exams.”As for the “alternative measures,” the chair of the Mathematics department has provided suggestions to students as “borrowing or renting equipment and pointing to financial supports available from the government and the institution,” Chalmers Morrison said. The president of the Wilfrid Laurier University Students’ Union, Devyn Kelly, said in a statement that the union is concerned about the legitimacy of the external webcam requirements and is actively working to ensure the “proper non-tuition fee/expense guidelines are followed.”“We have made the University aware of our concerns and expect to discuss this matter with them shortly,” Kelly added. A similar controversy erupted in April at Montreal’s Concordia University, where some instructors had planned to use students’ webcams to monitor their exams, although none of the Concordia instructors required students to purchase external webcams.Correction, May 9, 2020: This article originally misspelled the name of Wilfrid Laurier, and has been corrected. JOIN THE CONVERSATION Q:Is it reasonable to require an external webcam for exams? Share your thoughts Anyone can read Conversations, but to contribute, you should be registered Torstar account holder. If you do not yet have a Torstar account, you can create one now (it is free)Sign InRegisterConversations are opinions of our readers and are subject to the . The Star does not endorse these opinions.Copyright owned or licensed by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited. Allrights reserved. Republication or distribution of this content isexpressly prohibited without the prior written consent of TorontoStar Newspapers Limited and/or its licensors. To order copies ofToronto Star articles, please go to:

close This copy is for your personal non-commercial use only. To orderpresentation-ready copies of Toronto Star content for distributionto colleagues, clients or customers, or inquire aboutpermissions/licensing, please go to: Students at Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo are furious after they’ve been asked to purchase an external webcam so instructors can look over their shoulder remotely during exams, despite the fact that webcams are in short supply on online stores.Mathematics department chair Roman Makarov wrote in a email to all math students taking summer courses that built-in...

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Math students at Wilfrid Laurier furious after department orders them to buy external webcams for exams

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