Towards a Framework of Biometric Exam Authentication in E-Learning Environments

In the past fifteen years the use of Internet technologies has been substantially growing for delivery of educational content. E-learning environments have been incorporated in many universities for the delivery of e-learning courses. However, opponents of e-learning claim that a central disadvantage of such teaching medium is the growing unethical conduct in such environments. In particular, opponents of e-learning argue that the inability to authenticate exam takers is a major challenge of e-learning environments. As a result, some institutions proposed to take extreme measures including asking students to take exams in proctor centers or even abandon completely the offering of e-learning courses in their institutions. This paper attempts to address this important problem by proposing a theoretical framework that incorporates available fingerprint biometric authentication technologies in conjunction with e-learning environments to curb unethical conduct during e-learning exam taking. The proposed framework suggests practical solution that can incorporate a random fingerprint biometric user authentication during exam taking in e-learning courses. Doing so is hypothesized to curb exam cheating in e-learning environments. Discussions on future research and possible implications of the proposed theoretical framework for practice are provided.