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A teacher went viral after revealing everything she can see her students doing while taking online quizzes.
The teacher, who goes by @genx_professor, posted the videos to TikTok where they quickly garnered the attention of millions–educators and students alike.
Her most recent video on the topic received more than 2 million views and 1,000 comments since it was posted on March 25.
When schools shifted to online learning during the start of the pandemic in March 2020, many students found themselves learning behind a Zoom camera and taking all quizzes and exams virtually.
But virtual learning made it easier for students to cheat without their teacher knowing, resulting in less learning and more students having to repeat a grade.
Teachers also found themselves struggling with the shift, with only 16 percent of teachers having experienced online learning prior to the pandemic compared to 83 percent in Fall 2020.
In the video, the woman explained that when teachers assign video quizzes on Canvas–a popular learning management system–they are able to see how much of the video was actually watched by each student.
On the screen, she showed a large blue bar that tells her how many people watched the video and when they stopped watching. When students did not watch a section of the video, a white line appears rather than blue, showing her which students did not complete the assignment.
"This whole tracking thing is so disturbing," the teacher said in the comments. "It's why I share this info, so people know. I no longer use canvas to show videos. I post on yt."
Many users commented on the video, saying how it "bothered" them that teachers assigned video assignments and that there is very little privacy on the learning platforms.
"It really bothered me when teachers pass/fail enforced us to watch some videos. Like...I'm in college...I'm an adult...if I can read the textbook and still pass with flying colors then what's the problem?" one user wrote.
"Respect our privacy please," another commented.
"Wow I'm scared teachers have this much power on Canvas now," another wrote.
In another video that received more than 20 million views, the teacher showed what she sees when her students take online quizzes through Canvas. She pointed out that teachers are notified when a student exits the quiz page.
"That means when you leave the Canvas quiz-taking page and go somewhere else to a PowerPoint, to Google, to search for the answer it tells the teacher when you stopped viewing the Canvas page and when you returned," she said. "Kind of feels like big brother doesn't it?"
Nearly 33,000 users commented on this video, many of which were instructors asking for more tips and tricks for online learning.
"Lmao I'm a teacher and didn't know I could do any of these things...but also I don't like these types of hyper-vigilance features so I'll never use them."
Other users joked that their professors have never called any students out.
"This why you take the quiz or test on your laptop and use your phone as the cheat sheet," one user wrote.
Newsweek reached out to @genx_professor but did not receive comment in time for publication.
About the writer
Samantha Berlin is a Newsweek reporter based in New York. Her focus is reporting on trends and human-interest stories. Samantha ... Read more