A few years ago, I wrote a blog on the number of estimated YouTube videos there were on test cheating. At the time, I found 623,000 videos. I contrasted that with the number of YouTube videos on how to catch cheaters. As you can imagine, there were very few. I decided to search again to see if the number of videos had changed. Inconceivably, the increase in the number of test cheating videos went up by approximately 411%. Yes, that’s right! The number of cheating videos has increased to 256,000,000. Staggering. In contrast, I found two types of videos that addressed cheating. One set of videos that discussed how to catch cheaters (70,800,000) and another search that produced a set of videos on how to prevent cheating (13,100,000).  There are only 27% and 5% of test cheat-fighting videos to test cheating videos respectively. No wonder it’s a challenge to get on top of this problem! Let’s face it, learning how to combat test theft and fraud through YouTube is still not the answer. As a test security professional, you need to spend time reading, researching what others have done, attending expert presentations, and networking with individuals. Individuals, such as yourself, who have a passion for making sure individuals take tests honorably and fairly. Not unlike other fields, test security is changing dramatically. New technologies, more elaborate analyses, innovative item types, and better practices are transforming from catching cheaters and thieves to preventing them from taking advantage in the first place.

Instead of watching YouTube videos, register to attend the upcoming Conference on Test Security (COTS 2018). COTS is the only gathering fully devoted to individuals who have devoted their time and talents to test security. This year’s conference will have several interactive presentations and workshops in the areas of test security tools and approaches for protecting test validity, advanced statistical methods and applications for detecting potential test fraud, and test security practices for improving test program effectiveness. Here, you will find several presentations that have been planned to address many of the questions the testing field faces today. You’ll find that much of this conference has been carved out specifically for you, the test security professional, for networking with others to understand the complexities and intricacies of managing test security within your organization. The program can be found here.

REGISTER HERE:

"COTS is the only conference in the industry that focuses exclusively on exam security topics - it’s truly an “inch wide and mile deep” event!  Every year at COTS, I’ve learned from other attendees and presenters as we’ve explored the latest trends in cheating, cheating detection, and organizational response. Because it’s a small conference, I’ve had the pleasure of learning from and developing relationships with some of the best and brightest in the industry." -        Rachel R. Watkins Schoenig, Founder & CEO, Cornerstone Strategies LLC  

"Years ago when I was trying to figure out what test security meant to me and my role within my company, I stumbled upon a conference that started me on a path to answer my most pressing questions and guiding me towards useful next steps. That conference, The Statistical Detection of Potential Test Fraud in 2012, was the precursor to the Conference on Test Security. The experience was aligned so closely with the work I was doing that I joined the Executive Board. In the past six years we have expanded and grown the conference to discuss and highlight not only the statistical work being done in test security, but also to more comprehensively cover test security with topics around legal challenges, copyright, technologies, and proctoring, too. As my role in test security and the needs of my company evolve, I consistently find value in hearing what my peers have been doing and having an opportunity to discuss upcoming test security challenges and opportunities." -        Kim Brunnert, Director of Psychometrics, Elsevier Science   "Because the security of exams has been my interest and passion for more than 15 years now, I find the Conference on Test Security to be the most helpful of all the conferences I attend each year in giving me new ideas and methods. Plus, it certainly doesn’t hurt that I get to network with like-minded friends and colleagues. If you are a long-timer like me, or new to the test security scene, you will find great benefit in attending, and sharing your own experiences. I guarantee it!" -        David Foster, President & CEO, Caveon Test Security   "COTS is the only conference I know of that is dedicated to the issue of test security.  The value of this opportunity for me is to learn what major concerns are emerging in test security and how others are dealing with them.  I find it valuable to hear how others have managed issues even if they have yet to affect what we do in my testing organization.  It’s also the only venue where I can get information on the full range of test security issues, from policy that is likely to have the greatest deterrence value, to forensic methods that have the greatest likelihood of detecting security violations.  There is also the added value of interacting with attendees who are at universities and those who are at testing organizations.  The interactions between academics and applied testing professionals across the spectrum from state testing organizations to licensing organizations is an added benefit.  Plus, sometimes you get to see a good movie about cheating.  What more could you want?" -        Mark Albanese, Director of Research, National Conference of Bar Examiners (NCBE)   "When I was a second-year graduate student, I found myself in the middle of a heated discussion around the whole country during my visit to family in Turkey. There were issues about the security of the national university entrance exams, and people were raising concerns about the exam scores and trying to justify why they think there was some kind of fraud. As a student desperately looking for a research topic, I read the paper written by Angoff (1972) after a quick search on Google Scholar about detecting cheating on exams. It followed a deep diving into the literature about the topic. After 10 years, it is amazing to see that this area has become a main research topic for me, and I am still passionate about it. COTS gives me a great platform to share my research with other practitioners and researchers. I am inspired by different ideas after every conference coming back to my office with a long list of things to explore for the next year." -        Cengiz Zopluoglu, Assistant Professor, University of Miami