Carnegie Mellon University

Eberly Center

Teaching Excellence & Educational Innovation

Smartphone Quiz Deployment with Zoom Monitoring

The quiz question was presented to students on their phones during the Zoom class meeting. Students were instructed to keep their phones flat on their desks, and keep the sidebar visible at all times. Students also had to have their hands and exam paper in view at all times. The students wrote their responses on paper, scanned them with the CamScanner on their phones, and uploaded their submissions to Gradescope upon completion. The instructors used Zoom to monitor the students during the quiz.

  • Advantages: This approach uses accessible tools that are familiar to students. Video monitoring via Zoom provides opportunities for instructors to detect any potential academic integrity violations.
  • Limitations: The course instructor may opt to limit the question(s) in the assessment to what could be presented on a phone screen.
  • Implementation considerations: The course instructor should have an alternate plan in the event of technical failure. In this particular case, if any student experienced a technical issue during the exam, that student met with the instructor individually for the assessment.
  • Class: SCS 15-112
  • Student tools: laptop, smartphone, webcam
  • Instructor tools: Gradescope, Zoom
  • Assessment uses: Quizzes, Concept Tests, Exams