网络考试防作弊里的商机

发布时间:2013-11-26 12:12    发布者:1770309616
关键词: 网络 , 考试
         网络课程和网络考试越来越多,靠人力来防范舞弊行为也越来越困难,甚至变得不可能。多亏智能感应软件出手,网上测试作弊的人才无处遁形,而嗅觉灵敏的公司也从中嗅到了金钱的味道。

    美国的教育界已经迎来大规模开放网络课程(MOOC)风起云涌的时代,网上考试作弊现象也由此前所未有地猖獗起来。在电脑操控的世界,想呼唤万能的谷歌(Google)搜索引擎,也不过就是轻轻几下敲击的距离。那么,网络课堂的督导者们要怎样管理遍布各地的学员大军?要是管理众多学员的有效方法还无法确定,就更别提怎样扑灭作弊者在整个互联网世界燃起的熊熊大火了。

    当然,上述问题用科技手段就能解决。利用网络摄像头和检测抄袭的软件提供学监服务也不是新生事物,这个产业已有多年的根底。一家总部位于印度的业内初创公司Mettl已经杀入美国,入驻硅谷。虽说在搜捕作弊者方面只是“新人”,但Mettl拥有以计算机程式为依托的自动化技术,还自豪地声称,它捕获作弊者方式比传统做法更老到,甚至堪称万无一失。当然,有一条基本原则我们不该忘记:如果你想在参加网上考试时玩什么鬼把戏,你应试的电脑就会出卖你。

    作为一家从事网上评估测试的公司,Mettl将多种技术融入了自家的测试平台,至少在一场考试所需的时间内便能创造一种小型监控环境。

    具体来说,监控环境是这样形成的:一名应试者先要在Mettl网站注册,然后就能在网站的考题库里挑选预先上传到网站的测试题。面部击键识别技术可以确认注册的应试者是否就是他们自称的那个人。不论是在应试者注册时网络摄像头拍下的应试者信息,还是整个考试期间透过电脑显示屏留下的应试者信息,系统都会悉数记录。

    Mettl的技术可以利用应试者的摄像头监测到其中有多少人在使用电脑,很快就会追踪应试者的眼球移动。凭借这种有效的追踪,这家公司的技术可以感知应试者是否在注视屏幕以外的地方。如当真应试者视线持续停留在显示屏外,那可能意味着应试者在偷偷地用智能手机上网查询,或者是在向朋友咨询。Mettl还会监视应试者的显示屏,如果应试者切换了页面或者改变了浏览器,或是退出测试,Mettl也都能监测到。系统会迅速记录应试者一方传来的说话声音,这样就能监测到应试者是在与别人交谈,还是有人在给应试者支招。

    一旦监测到任何不正常的现象,系统会标示出现异常事件,并向主考官汇报。结果可大可小,全视测试方的要求而定:可能一有发现异常便终止所有人考试作答,可能只是对出现应试者异常表现的显示屏发出警告,甚至通过网络摄像头人为干预。所有这些对策都由Mettl的控制中心指挥。

    Mettl联合创始人兼首席执行官克坦•卡普尔指出,即使仅仅是作弊被抓的威胁也产生了很大的震慑作用。2010年,卡普尔与曾任全球管理咨询公司波士顿咨询公司(BCG)顾问的老朋友塔莫伊•辛格哈尔成立了这家公司。当时两人都认识到,印度受教育的年轻国民人数激增,接受网络教育的国民也在增加,这正是一个商机。

    在众多领域之中,他们发现技术可能给予最大助力的是哪个领域?答案就是考试。在印度,与就业招聘和职业认证有关的国家考试不计其数。卡普尔和辛格哈尔也意识到,管理大量考试现在就已经是一项繁重的任务,而随着应试者人数增加,这项任务只会变得越来越沉重。

    如今,全球200家企业和大学都在使用这家新生代公司的平台、监督及服务,他们大多来自印度。知名咨询公司埃森哲(Accenture)、软件公司Cognizant和国际四大会计师事务所之一的毕马威(PricewaterhouseCoopers)都是Mettl的客户。

    Mettl希望,此次美国的处女秀将有助于公司闯入这个国家庞大的招聘与MOOC市场。Mettl公司现有员工50名,已募得资金450万美元,迄今为止发展势头良好。它成立至今已经监督测评逾百万次,预计今年营业收入将达到“几百万”美元。(财富中文网)


    译者:若离      


    Now that American education has entered the era of the MOOC -- the Massive Open Online Course -- the opportunity for cheating appears greater than ever. The omniscient Google search engine is never more than a few keystrokes away for the computer-bound. So how can a proctor possibly manage the far-flung multitudes, let alone smoke out cheaters taking tests across the Internet?

    Using technology, of course. While proctoring services via webcam and plagiarism-detecting software have been around for several years now, an India-based startup has come to America -- Silicon Valley, obviously -- with automated, algorithm-based techniques for netting cheaters that the company claims are even more sophisticated and foolproof. Essentially, if you try to pull a fast one, your computer will rat you out.

    The online assessment company Mettl has incorporated a handful of technologies into its test-taking platform, creating, for the duration of an exam at least, a mini-surveillance state.

    Here's how it works: A test-taker signs on to Mettl and selects his/her exam from the site's library of pre-loaded tests. Facial and keystroke recognition technology verify the person that has signed in is the person they say they are, and the system records both the test-taker (through the webcam) and the test-taker's screen throughout the test.

    Mettl's technology uses the test-taker's webcam to detect how many people are using the computer. Soon, it will track eye movement well enough to sense whether the test-taker is looking away from the screen, perhaps to consult a smartphone or a friend on the sly. Mettl also monitors the test-taker's screen and can detect when the test-taker has changed tabs or browsers or moved from the test. The system will soon be able to record sound, and thus detect whether the test-taker is talking or being talked to.

    If any irregularities are detected, the system flags the incident and reports it back to the test's administrator. This can trigger any number of things, depending on the test-giver's wishes: a complete shutdown of the exam, a warning message that appears on the test-taker's screen, even human intervention -- via webcam -- from Mettl's control center.

    Ketan Kapoor, co-founder and CEO of Mettl, notes that the mere threat of being caught serves as a great deterrent to cheating. Kapoor founded the company in 2010 with an old friend and former BCG consultant, Tonmoy Shingal, when the pair realized the opportunity presented by India's exploding population of educated youth and the growth of online education.

    Among the many areas where they found that technology could offer improvement? Assessment. In India, there are huge national tests given for job recruitment and professional certification purposes. Kapoor and Shingal saw that the considerable task of managing these mass assessments would only become bigger as the number of participants increased.

    The young company's platform and proctoring and assessment services are now used by 200 corporations and universities around the globe; most are in India, such as Accenture (ACN), Cognizant (CTSH), and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

    Mettl, which has 50 employees and has raised $4.5 million in funding, is hoping its new U.S. presence will help it break into the country's sizeable recruiting and MOOC markets. It is well on its way: The company has proctored more than 1 million assessments since its launch, and projects "a few million" in revenue this year.

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1770309616 发表于 2013-11-26 12:15:37
Apple Rumor Mill Again Heats Up With Reports Of Big-Screen iPhones传苹果正开发两款大屏iPhon
Apple is working on developing a larger-screen iPhone. This time the source is Bloomberg, and the report is that not one, but two such phones are likely in development. Both are slated for release as soon with next year’s iPhone refresh, perhaps in September 2014. The models are believed to contain 4.7-inch and 5.5-inch screens, which would push Apple into the phablet category for the first time. It’s possible the screens will also incorporate some curvature to the glass, though it’s more likely that would involve the screens partly wrapping around the phone as opposed to anything more radical like the new curved models from Samsung and LG.
每隔几个月,就会有报道说,苹果正在开发一款屏幕尺寸更大的iPhone。这一次,消息来源是彭博社,消息内容是苹果并不只是在开发一款,而是两款大屏手机。这两款手机都将于明年iPhone新品发布——可能是2014年9月——之时推出。据说一款是4.7英寸屏,另一款是5.5英寸屏,这两款手机将首次带领苹果进入平板手机领域。另外,这两款手机的玻璃屏幕将可能包含某种能够弯曲的特性——尽管比较可能的是屏幕部分延伸并包裹手机侧边,而不是诸如三星或LG那种更为激进的整机弯折款式。

If the rumors at last prove true, it will fit with Apple’s continued catering to the high-end customer. While the company doesn’t provide a sales breakdown, there are numerous reports that the new top-end iPhone 5s is doing even better than expected relative to the slightly less expensive 5c model. What Apple would do to the lineup next year if it brought two larger models to market is unclear. Given its faith in the 4-inch screen, it seems certain at least one of those models would carry over and become the free-on-contract phone in the U.S. and the lowest-price phone in unsubsidized markets. Most likely, that would be the 5c.
如果这一传言最终成为现实,那么将符合苹果公司始终致力于迎合高端消费者的一贯努力。尽管该公司并不提供销售明细情况,但有无数报道称,相较于较为廉价的5C款式,最新发布的高端iPhone 5S的销量要高于预期。而如果明年苹果果真向市场推出两款大屏手机的话,其对自己的产品线将会做何种改变目前尚且未知。

In addition to the larger screens, Apple is said to be working on new touch sensors that can detect differing amounts of pressure. The Bloomberg
有鉴于该公司对四英寸屏的信心,现在看来现有手机产品线中至少有一款将继续存在,并成为美国市场上的无合约机,同时也是无补贴市场中的低价机——我认为最有可能的是5C。

Bloomberg report suggests those won’t be ready for next year and, in fact, it seems likely that Apple wouldn’t combine too many major rollouts at once. The reality is the 5s arguably brought too many changes with it to fit the Apple “it just works” mantra cleanly. Between iOS 7, the new 64-bit A7 processor and the TouchID fingerprint sensor, enough was changed that the 5s likely experiences more app crashes and reboots than any iPhone before it. (I say this with some first-hand experience). While the end result might still be acceptable, Apple is likely to be somewhat more cautious in changing out too many of the internals going forward in a single model year, especially if a major redesign of the screen and the externals finally comes to bear.
除更大的屏幕之外,据说苹果还在开发全新的触摸传感器,能够感知到各种不同的压力。上文提到的彭博社报道称,传感器不会在明年就开发完毕,事实上,苹果应该不会一次推出太多新元素。5S就被认为是一次性引入太多改变,甚至有点儿不符合苹果的“能用就好”信条了。5S的iOS 7操作系统、新款64位A7处理器和TouchID指纹传感器——这太多改变导致5S可能是有史以来应用程序崩溃和机器重启次数最多的一款iPhone(我之所以这样说,是有第一手经验做基础的)。尽管最终结果仍然是可以接受的,但在一年内推出太多机器内部升级时,苹果可能还是会采取较为谨慎的态度,特别是在将要推出屏幕和外观的重大改变时。

One unknown is whether Apple’s recent supply deal with GT Advanced Technology to make sapphire crystal would impact these designs. Apple currently uses sapphire to protect the fingerprint sensor and camera lens in the iPhone but there is speculation it might cover the entire screen with it going forward. It’s possible that these new designs will make use of the GT-supplied sapphire but not clear in what way.
有一点尚不清楚:苹果最近和GT Advanced Technology公司达成的蓝宝石生产协议会否影响到上述设计。目前,苹果采用蓝宝石来保护其iPhone手机上的指纹传感器和摄像头,但有人认为,将来蓝宝石材质将覆盖整个屏幕。新设计可能会使用由GT公司供应的蓝宝石,但具体如何还不得而知。

Either way, should the larger iPhone finally materialize, it will be nothing but good news for Apple. The company has been ceding market share even at the high end as some number of customers has chosen Android-based phones due to Apple’s one-size-fits-all offering. With iPad, the company has been hugely successful offering two models and is rumored to be considering a third, larger model for 2014. Similarly, it offers notebook computers in multiple sizes. A three iPhone lineup would likely add billions in incremental revenue to Apple’s fiscal 2015. Further a radical redesign of the iconic iPhone would similarly be well received. While the design has been refined with each generation, iPhone 5s is very much a derivative of the 2010 iPhone 4. Apple, as always, had no comment. But this bears following.
无论如何,如果大屏iPhone最终成为现实,对苹果来说不啻为一个好消息。该公司的市场份额正在节节败退——即便是在高端市场——由于苹果手机始终只有一种尺寸,有一些消费者转而选择了安卓手机。iPad方面,苹果已经在两款机型上取得了巨大成功,有传言说其正考虑在2014年推出第三款更大尺寸的款式。同样的,苹果的笔记本电脑也有各种规格尺寸可供选择。第三个iPhone产品线可能会为苹果2015财年增加客观的营收。此外,对标志性的iPhone进行更为激进的重新设计也将可能受到广泛欢迎。尽管每一代iPhone的设计都有所变化,但iPhone 5S更像是2010年iPhone 4的衍生品。和往常一样,苹果并没有进行置评。我们会进行跟踪报道。

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