No phone jammers at Tilburg University
At some point in their school career, everybody has done it: cheating on an exam. There are techniques against cheating, like cell phone jammers and cell phone detectors. These techniques are all quite controversial. At Tilburg University, they will not be used any time soon. Here, there are other ways to discourage cell phone use during exams.For lots of high school students, the final exams will start soon. This has revitalized the discussion about cheating. A lot of schools want to use a so called phone jammer, a device that makes all telephone communication impossible. The problem is: not only does it block whatsapp or text messages, all people near it will be unable to reach the emergency number 112.
This last problem makes the jammers just as illegal as cheating itself. The use of jammers is strictly forbidden and using them can result in a 1800 euro fine and a visit to court, Dutch daily Algemeen Dagblad writes.
Measures
“We do not use phone jammers,” says Paul Zoontjes, president of the Examiners at Tilburg Law School. According to him, it is hard to handle cheating, since new techniques keep on appearing. The university’s rejection of jammers and detectors does not mean no measures are taken, says Zoontjes. “Students have to put their phones in their bags and leave them against the wall in front of the class. When they have to go to the bathroom, they are checked, a phone is easy to spot.” When students turn out to have a phone during exams, the exam is annulled.Phone detector
The Dutch Radiocommunications Agency wants to check schools for the use of jammers during the upcoming exams. This is the first time the agency does this. A spokesman told Algemeen Dagblad that a detector (a device that shows nearby phones) can be used to see if there are any phones in the classroom. This device actually is legal. It would also be an option to switch off the Wifi network.
The Erasmus University in Rotterdam and the University of Maastricht use these detectors when students go to the bathroom. When the phone is switched on, a guard gets a signal.
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