Seoul National University Detects Cheating in Online Military Course Exams
Approximately half of 36 students in an online military remote course at Seoul National University showed signs of opening unauthorized windows during the final exam, prompting the university to invalidate all results and replace them with alternative assignments. The incident follows a previous AI-assisted cheating case in October, leading the university to develop new exam formats and AI usage guidelines.
What happened
In an online final exam for a military remote course at Seoul National University's College of Natural Sciences, approximately half of 36 students showed signs of cheating by opening windows other than the exam questions. The test was designed to log attempts to access other screens, and the teaching assistant found records of such activity in nearly half the students.
The professor did not pursue formal discipline but instead invalidated all exam results and replaced them with an alternative assignment. The professor stated that while clear evidence of wrongdoing was not definitive regarding what screens were viewed, a substantial number of students were suspected of cheating.
Reported impact
All test results in the course were invalidated. The professor acknowledged that students who studied earnestly and took the exam fairly felt wronged by the decision to void the results.
Index analysis
This incident follows a previous occurrence in October when some students used artificial intelligence to cheat on a mid-term exam in a statistics practical course. Seoul National University is developing countermeasures at the institutional level, including shifting from online to in-person exams, using open-book formats, and designing problem sets suitable for online testing.
The university is also developing AI usage guidelines to clarify faculty policies on AI use through course syllabi, and is currently gathering feedback from stakeholders on these guidelines. University officials stated that reducing online classes altogether would not align with contemporary educational trends, and they are instead considering new evaluation methods.
Governance controls
Seoul National University is developing AI usage guidelines that will require faculty to clearly state their AI use policies in course syllabi so students can review them in advance.
Classification
Sources and evidence
This record was researched and written by the Index, based on the following original reporting.