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File sharing and cheating

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7 replies

by hweiss

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I teach AutoCAD to high school students. I am having problems with students sharing their work. All the students? individual folders on the network have restricted access from the other students; however this does not prevent a student from sharing his password to allow his buddy to open his assignments and save them to the hard drive or an external drive. Then the buddy will simply log in under his own name and open the file from the other drive make a few changes then save it to his own network folder. Is there a way that files can only be saved only to the network folders while still having full access to all applications? Then the students won?t be able to get the work ?out? of other student?s folders. The operating system is XP pro.

7 replies

by kiltie

Not sure what you mean here.

If a student is sharing his user name and password with others, there is nothing much you can do.
Since the the computer system will assume that anyone using that exact name and password is the same person.

If it is the case of files/protection/security?

Then again, if someone wants to hand out the password to anyone, you are in the same situation.

XP allows files to be password protected and permissions restricted, but cannot stop someone from willingly handing their identity and password around, even of those protected files, since they will not be protected once the information is roaming about freely.

Could you explain a little further maybe as to what the problem is?
Maybe give an example or two?

by hweiss

Here is what I?m thinking. If the only place a student can save his work is on his network folder then it can?t be re-saved anywhere else so it can?t be copied. The other student can open the flies but he will have no way of moving the file around to get the file into his own folder.

by 3xp3rt

So if one student has access only on one folder assigned to his/her username, on network drive and on local computer, is no way to save anywhere else folder. The problem is if he/she have right to share this folder. The other way (but this is very hard way) to change the password after each login.

by kiltie

The key problem here is "access"

Once a file can be opened, access is given.

It then can be saved anywhere else.

USB RWs, flash drives, spare HDs, USB devices don't even need the case to be opened.

Sure you can restrict USB access, but you will be fighting a losing battle against this.

Any decent tech savvy student will find a way around this, and they tend to be very tech savvy, even more than the professsorrs that lecture them.

There is a reason for this, which I won't explain just now, just believe me.

Some of the techniques involve hacking, and students just LOVE to do this.
(can you think why?)

But many others techniques merely use available freeware programs.

So.........

Your problem is to deny access in the first place, however that merely make it only slightly more difficult for the student to get a work around. The student wanting to cheat, will merely regard this as a challenge, and feel buch better for "having beaten the system"

"Where there's a will, there's a way" as the saying goes.

by tony hopkinson

Personally, I'd give anyone you suspect of doing it their own test, make it a complete b'stard. If they start getting together to solve the problems you set them, they'll be learning anyway.

Win Win.

by sudhangshu2008

Sorry for late answer. i dont know u got the answer or not. Assuming your students r not using administrator credential to log in the system. i am sure they r mere users only. Just encrypt their project file. open the properties of the project file/folder. under general tab click on advance and select 'encrypt contents to secure data' then click on apply and ok. BANG the task is over. the particular user on that very same computer and OS can open the file. others cant in other system.

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